Electric cars: Birmingham road test
May 8 2009 By Edward Stephens
There is no clutch. All you do is move the gear lever forward if you want to go forward and back if you want to reverse. It’s as simple as that.
As I pulled into the city traffic I was pleasantly surprised just how nippy the little car was - given that the batteries are only the equivalent of a 35bhp petrol engine, which is pretty small.
Nevertheless it gathers speed reasonably well. It’s no road rocket, but then again neither is the C1 with its conventional 1.0-litre petrol engine.
The second surprise came as I started to slow down. As soon as I took my foot off the accelerator the car started breaking because of its regenerative braking system which puts power back into the battery as soon as you don’t need the power of the motor.
The ev’ie has a top speed of 60 miles per hour, so while it won’t break the speed limit on the motorway I found no problem keep up with most of the traffic, especially on the M6 near the city centre where most of it is currently restricted to 50 mile per hour anyway because of road works.
The real draw back with the ev’ie is the price. At £16,850 it is expensive for a small car, especially when you consider that a conventional C1 is available for around £7,309.
But the government has already indicated it is planning to offer a £5,000 subsidy to buyers of electric vehicles – as well as creating an infrastructure of charging points in cities across the country – and that reduction would make all the difference.
ECC’s technical director Jeff Solomon said that people living in London with its congestion charge and expensive parking could recoup the difference between an ev’ie and a conventional C1 in just 12 months – even without the government subsidy.
“The car is exempt from the congestion charge, you don’t have to pay any road tax and in many areas of London parking for electric cars is free,” he said.
While we don’t have the congestion charge in Birmingham buyers would certainly save money in road tax and in fuel. A conventional C1 will average around 60 miles per gallon but that will cost you around £4.40 compared to a 90p charge to cover the same distance with the ev’ie.
And if you do make the switch at least you will know you are helping to save the planet.
* Would you buy electric? Email edward.stephens@birminghammail.net
