Electric Car

As a consequence, they are an environmentally friendly form of transport that are starting to gain momentum and could quite possibly replace the petrol engine in smaller cars within the next ten years.

At present, the choice of electric cars - otherwise known as "EV's" - is quite limited, but it is growing all the time.

Most of them are small cars best suited to inner city driving, but there are also a couple of high performance super cars now becoming available - with Ferrari beating performance and 200 mile plus ranges - proving that a car powered by electricity doesn't have to be slow, boring and limited to in-town use.

The Mitsubishi Electric Car was one of the first mainstream cars to be launched. In the UK Mitsubishi are involved in a trial, we have been selected and now have a Mitsubishi i MiEV for a year.

The Lightning Sports, the Lightning GT (above) and Tesla Roadster (below) are three electric high performance cars offering 0-62 in less than 4 seconds and a range of over 200 miles

Electric cars have rapidly become popular in the centre of London, where they are exempt from the congestion charge and have free parking in many car parks.

As a result of this, there are around 1,500 electric city cars now driving around London and this figure looks set to increase dramatically over the next few years.

Councils are encouraging their use by installing electric charging points, and this lead has now been taken up by a number of shopping centres and private car park operators.

Major manufacturers are taking note and have plans to produce electric powered cars in the near future. Renault and Nissan have announced plans to produce a range of electric powered cars in 2010, whilst Mitsubishi and Smart are both expected to announce products in the next twelve months.

Electric Cars available in the UK today

Competitors to the Reva G-Wiz include the Aixam Mega City, the Elettrica and the Maranello 4.

Vehicle conversion specialists Allied Vehicles are now offering an electric conversion on the Peugeot Expert Tepee. The result is a seven seat car with a genuine 100 mile range and a top speed of over 70mph.

Electric Car Advantages

• Cost of fuel is at an all time record high and still increasing.
• No London Congestion charge.
• No road Tax, although you still require a tax disc.
• Some parking is Free in London.
• No pollution from the car, and although some CO2 will be produced from the electric required this is still much lower than the amount of CO2 produced by using a car. It is possible to use renewable power or a green energy supplier for your electric.
• In the UK our CO2 emissions from cars for personal use is 13% of the total UK CO2 emissions.
• For each litre of fuel used in a car engine, produces more than 2.5kg of CO2.
• Cheap car insurance, some cars are group 1.
• Help to reduce noise pollution as they are much quieter.

How does an Electric Car work?

Recharge time varies from model to model, but typically an 80% charge can be done in 2-2½ hours. New battery technology means that the next generation of EVs will be capable of being fully charged within a few minutes.

Electric cars have very few components compared to a normal car; they typically don't have a gearbox and the electric motors have very few moving parts. They still need servicing on a regular basis to check brakes, motor and batteries and an MOT is still required.

Electric Car Disadvantages

• You are normally limited by range and speed. Although this is improving with newer cars.
• Most Electric cars in production are only 2 seated and very small.
• You need to have access to a recharge point.