BBC reporter Richard Stott purred with delight when the Cleggerons confirmed that they were going to chuck bucketloads of our money into electric car subsidies, despite the recession. No stone was left unturned in his report in telling us that production is both necessary and what consumers want. Today’s report from Spain about the reality of the virtually non-existent demand for these useless, expensive, greenie toys – just 16 have been sold in a year despite massive publicity and taxpayer cash – is rather more terse and bald. No explanation of the disastrous attempt to fool consumers; just an insane and throroughly misleading quote that implies millions will be sold, because electric cars are the same story as “mobile phones and computers”. Er, both these products have a clear use and fit consumer needs. And they don’t cost the earth. They took off when they became affordable. By contrast, electric cars are – and will remain for the forseeable future, despite the greenie propaganda and massive subsidies – expensive, inferior in range and performance, and be restricted in appeal by the need to recharge for long periods. In other words, they are in almost every respect inferior to petrol cars and are only being produced because they fit the greenie-global warming propaganda narrative. Why can’t the BBC be honest and say that?
ELECTRIC HOGWASH
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Pure electric, as opposed to hybrid, cars are expensive and so limited on range that they are of little use for other than commuting. The greenies say that that’s all people need and for most of the time that is true, but what about the trip to the coast or to see family or to a function? Are people menat to drive the 100+ mile journey in 40 mile stages? Perhaps they are meant to hire a proper car?
Small purely electric cars do have a place in London and other large cities as commuter vehicles but mot of the people I know with them have them as second cars and use them with gritted teeth so as to avoid the congestion charge.
The BBC should cut the hypocritical crap. A few simple measures would test their resolve on this:
1. Forbid all BBC staff and contractors to use any transportation by road and air. Nobody will be allowed to travel by any personal transportation powered by fossil fuel. Its outside broadcast equipment can all be shipped around by rail or by public bus.
2. No taxis – ever – ever again!
3. Remove all BBC buildings from the National Grid. Henceforth their offices will be powered only by “sustainable” and “renewable” and non-polluting energy sources.
That should dim the lights down in Broadcasting Hosue for a while.
RH wrote: “In other words, they are in almost every respect inferior to petrol cars and are only being produced because they fit the greenie-global warming propaganda narrative. Why can’t the BBC be honest and say that?”.
The BBC would be very dishonest if it said that. Extremely so. Not because it’s untrue – it might be, it might not be, but because its a point of view, and as I thought was the case here, the whole point about B-BBC is that we dont want the BBC to be pushing opinions, we want them to be reporting the news and giving a level playing field to debate.
Hippie,
Well, the BBC could easily do just what you suggest and inject that much-needed “balance” into the equation by simply prefacing RH’s words with “However, on the other hand, some would say…”
Funnily enough, the BBC DO inject balance when the subject is a Tory or coalition plan, policy, idea, think tank, announcement etc. I am always hearing or reading “but Labour say…” or “Unite union rejects…” or “green groups disagree…” tagged onto the end.
Indeed, that’s exactly the point I was making, RH, unfortunately, wasn’t.
Electric cars currently are inferior to combustion-engine cars. Currently (no pun intended) as a practical product for the average consumer. As battery technology improves, prices go down, the cars can be made even lighter while still being safe, and gas stations become giant electric outlets, maybe that will change someday. But right now, it’s not untrue, and not a mere opinion to state that electric cars are currently inferior to gas-powered vehicles.
It’s not an inferior “idea”, but it is an inferior commerical product for the time being. Maybe the Aptera isn’t, but nobody actually has one of those yet, and only a few hundred rich people ever will, so it hardly counts.
Stating as fact “[They] are only being produced because they fit the greenie-global warming propaganda narrative” is not a return to the impartial BBC I wish to see, just a change of bias.
Well, they’re certainly not being produced for economic, free-market reasons. Of course they’re finally being pushed through because of the Warmist agenda. The only economic incentive is the fat check coming from the Government to subsidize each purchase. That government support is driven exclusively by the Warmist agenda, and not by free-market principles. I think it’s quite fair to say that the existence of these vehicles is due to the Warmist agenda and little else.
I wish these things were available long ago so that we hadn’t given all that oil money to barbarians.
One thing that never seems to be discussed is just where people think the electricity comes from to power the cars. Thin air?
When existing power stations come to the end of their lives soon there won’t be enough power for our homes, never mind charging cars.
Exactly, Roland. Of course, sucha probing question would never arise in the minds of the arts graduates who masquerade as science correspondents in the BBC.
Mind you, if we build a few wind turbines, there should be enough hot air spouted by the BBC to power a couple of light bulbs.
Gotta build more wind turbines. If you tore down most of the suburbs and rural villages, and forced everyone to live in giant building blocks like in Judge Dredd, then there will be enough open space in the UK to put up enough turbines to power, oh, at least 10% of the population’s electric cars during peak hours. If nobody ran the hair dryer at the same time.
Excellent point Roland – I like to ask advocates of electric vehicles for their views on the likely breakdown of the future mix of coal-fired and nuclear-powered plants required to generate the electricity needed for the vehicles to run, and watching their blank expressions as they think for a moment