Where are all of the cheap electric cars?
China is rolling out cheap electric cars left right and centre… why aren’t we?
This has been bugging me for quite some time and I really need to get it off my chest. But why the heck, at a time when the UK is trying to basically rebuild itself from the ground up after leaving the EU and the Pandemic, is the UK not making a push into the EV market and making small affordable cars that are less than £10,000 that do 150-200 miles? Is it just me thinking this? It probably is
Over the years the UK has lost basically everything it had going for it by selling it off or letting someone else do it better and giving up. We have a ridiculously high amount of unemployment in this country with plenty of people that want to get back into work. Well here is that opportunity. We hear in the UK could start building Small electric cars.
At one point the UK made some of the most amazing cars the world has ever seen. Why don’t we get back to that and whilst we are at it we’ll get all those people who are wanting to work and get them building motors, Batteries and chassis learning new skills as they do. Imagine being able to be proud of the fact you owned a car that was designed and built in the UK…. that was built in the last could of years instead of waiting for when someone who owns that 50-year-old Aston Martin to drive past you and you’ll only get to see once on a blue moon.
I know there will be some people reading this who say… We Don’t have the infrastructure to have these cheap electric cars! The Grid won’t cope with it and we’ll have rolling blackouts! I have one thing to say to you. SHUT UP! it might sound harsh but take some time to do some research and you’ll see we are a lot further along than you might think.
The National grid has been working on this problem for years and have said countless time in countless interviews and publication that they are ready for the electrification of transport and have been for some time. They are even encouraging manufacturers to include this amazing technology in their cars called vehicle to grid.
Vehicle to Grid will actually help balance the UK electric grid because whilst your car is sat on your drive or outside work and you have it plugged in the national grid will shift some of its excess energy to your car when they have too much and then when they need a little boost around tea time or at half time during the FA cup and they’ll still leave you enough electricity that you won’t even notice. I almost forgot to mention that your car’s battery will be about to power you home for at least a day and even up to a week. So you could charge your car when it’s cheap (or even free if you charge at the shops or at work) for a couple of quid then, leave it plugged in and it will power your house so your not paying anything to have your lights on. So by buying an electric car you are actually part of the solution.
Don’t get me wrong I know we are not ready to have millions of electric cars on the UK’s roads but it won’t take much. All those in Whitehall have to do is sign one of their many bits of paper saying that anywhere that provides parking must also provide charging facilities (and more than the 2 you get at your local supermarket). Tesla and Gridserve are doing it already you know, but they have focused on the motorways. You can’t go into a service station without seeing a billion Tesla Superchargers just waiting for someone to plugin. Gridserve opened the first fully electric forecourt with a bunch of shops and everything.
Now what we need are companies like Esso, BP, Shell and whoever else to start building something similar on a smaller scale for local communities. they could even team up with your local supermarket and provide them with 20 Superfast Chargers and another 50 7Kw trickle chargers and BAM! there is your infrastructure for those who can’t charge at home. The reason it’s not happening already is that 1 no one is buying electric cars and they see no need and 2 no one is building charging infrastructure because no one is buying electric cars in high enough numbers. It is a vicious cycle and it needs the government to step in and force companies to start building the infrastructure now or companies like Gridserve to step in and go we’ll do it.
I really am sorry for the rant but as I said I need to get it off my chest. I find myself trying not to have a go at people for not seeing the bigger picture. The fact that towns and cities will be nicer places to be because we won’t all be getting poisoned every time a car goes by leading to god knows how many health problems. The biggest reason this is all taking so long is that the Oil companies I mentioned earlier are too busy making it look like they are doing good things to distract you from the fact they are trying to keep their oil business going so their shareholders can get a good payday. And do you know what it would be a lot easier to force their hands if only there were Electric Cars that were affordable for Brenda down the street who is a single mum with three kids who is working every hour they can to just get by can at least have a shot of buying an affordable electric car! Because it’ll not just be good for the environment. It’ll be cheap for her bank balance too. It’ll cost about £5 to “fill the tank” there are fewer parts meaning less serving and maintenance (seriously there are only 5 moving parts and they are all wheels)
Maybe it is just me that want’s a cheaper electric car and the infrastructure in place for people to use them. And if it is you know what I’m probably still not going to shut up about it because I honestly think going fully electric could be amazing for the UK but there you go. That’s my TED Talk. Do you agree? Do you think I’m being an idiot? let me know in the comments below.
