The electric vehicle has arrived. A small company in Flitwick, Bedfordshire has been able to modify Citroen C1 with an all-electric power train. It is called the EV’IE and is now on sale. It is a shame that this picture is actually a petrol version with decals – ho hum.
http://www.t3.com/news-gallery?articleId=8784
I doubt that we will see many electric cars on the road for another two years since most purchasers will wait until the government subsity comes into effect in 2011. Governments are terribly fickle and I envisage that this subsidy will not last very long. Should there be a rush to drive electric gather momentum, the Chancellor would loose much of the 200% tax he gets from diesel sales. Nevertheless I welcome the initiative which will kick start the electric revolution. There are some fantastic developments in the pipeline such as these Tesslas…
http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsArticle/Tesla-Roadster/233656/
I remember the stigma I encountered when I bought the first diesel driving school car in this country, a Golf 1500D. It was slow and noisy … but oh so economical and easy to drive. The real problem was that there were no diesel fuel pumps on forecourts and if I was lucky enough to find one, a lady came out and told me that I was putting the wrong fuel in my car. How times have changed. I doubt that electric cars will have any problems shaking off their milk float image.