Drive to electrify public on electrics

REARVIEW:The electric car hasn't grasped the imagination. Talk to any Joe or Josephine Public, not involved in the motor industry, and they will probably tell you, a) that electric cars look as if they were designed by junior infants and, b) the cars are slow compared to their diesel and petrol equivalents and, c) they are likely to run out of power half way between your house and work.

Some of the worries are well founded, particularly that known as “range anxiety”, with promised limits looking as if they will hardly power a trip the length of the country. Certain perceptions and lack of knowledge fuel other concerns.

The freedom that a tank full of fuel and any number of 24-hour petrol stations offers is hard to match and if we are expected to move away from dirty and increasingly scarce fuels to more efficient and environmentally friendly sources of power, those in Government must win the public over.

We must immediately encourage the motor industry to supply the State with a fleet of vehicles that will be regularly available to members of the public.

Why not install taxi ranks in city centres serviced by electric vehicles only? Drivers could charge up while waiting for a fare and have a limit of the city centre only. The exposure of the cars would do wonders in winning over Joe and Josephine.

We could go further and have a shuttle service of electric vehicles between our airports and city centres.

It is an exciting time for the struggling motoring industry with the likes of the Nissan Leaf, Renault’s Fluence and Opel’s much anticipated Ampera coming on stream.

All of us regular motorheads might be excited by this but the rest of the public still needs convincing.