Time for a new EV strategy

T-27 'Urban M1'

The UK government has been accused of undermining their green agenda with a U-turn on charging points for electric vehicles. This is based on the coalition's agreement which called for 'a national recharging network for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles'. The reason given for the change in policy was fresh research which showed that EV drivers would prefer to charge at home. This is quite correct, most EV owners will charge at home at night, for reasons of convenience and lower cost. And over time, we will see the growth of privately funded charging stations in business, public and supermarket car parks, facilitated by the newly announced changes in the planning process and approvals.


The reality of course is that in these tough economic times, every government department is looking for ways to cut costs and improve efficiency. Leaving the future funding of EV charging infrastructure to the private sector is probably the right decision, otherwise we would have been left with a lot of unused charging stations that would have been cited as reasons why electric cars will not work. The market will drive infrastructure growth, we just need to accept that we do not need a huge network of public charging stations before we buy EVs and not allow ourselves to get stuck in a chicken-and-egg situation.


So far so good.


However, is it now time for a rethink of government policy? Climate change, energy security, city pollution and job creation can all be addressed in good part by an aggressive but very different EV programme. 


Here is what I would do:


1. Create a new category of electric vehicle, the 'Urban M1' : the number of deaths from driving is declining rapidly as safety standards in cars improves. What we call 'cars' are actually a category called 'M1' and what we call micro-cars, or heavy quadricycles, are a category called 'L7e'. The G-Wiz is a quadricycle and although it is limited by weight it cannot be built to the same safety standards as an M1 car, it nonetheless has an excellent safety record. This is because its speed is limited by a power output ceiling, and because it is both designed and used as a car for urban and low speed (non-motorway) driving.


I suggest  that the L7e category is changed to Urban M1 (a phrase first coined by Professor Gordon Murray, the designer of the Mclaren F1 and recently the T-27 electric car prototype) and that the weight allowance is increased from 450 kg without batteries, to 650 kg without batteries. This category would enable a minimum of 4* NCAP safety levels and crucially, safe electric cars could be made for around £12,000 at today's costs (and so much cheaper in a few years time as battery costs tumble), rather than the £23,000 to £32,000 that the excellent Renault Fluence ZE and Nissan Leaf cost. As the biggest barrier to EV adoption is price (not infrastructure, as some still claim), this will change the focus for manufacturers from building big, heavy, expensive electric cars (good for profits) to small, lightweight, inexpensive electric cars (good for drivers and the environment) .


2. Mandate that all second and third family cars are electric: the simplest, cheapest, most effective way to ensure that we meet our climate change targets and reduce energy security fears is to ensure that the second car market is focused on electric cars, preferably, but not exclusively, 'Urban M1' electric cars. The shorter range of electric cars are ideally suited to second car journey profiles of course, so there would be minimum hardship if any with such a policy. This could also create a lot of new jobs as the EV industry would be given a permanent boost and be the perfect platform for near universal EV adoption within a decade or two.


3. Spend government EV incentive cash on EV education: the government were seduced into  providing incentives by the auto manufacturers, when what is really needed is for the OEMs and government to get together and undertake a thorough communication programme that explains why we need electric vehicles. In the same way that Kennedy inspired a nation of Americans to support the moon programme,  David Cameron could build an industry and a movement in the UK, one that addressed climate change and energy security whilst creating jobs and a huge feelgood factor, placing the UK at the forefront of the new global transport economy and inspiring other nations to follow suit.


Signals and consistent, clear support for EVs will do more than stop-start incentives and 'U-turns'. A bit of clever thinking like this would be much cheaper too for the government, surely the most compelling reason why it should happen.