An electric car scheme funded with thousands of pounds of public money is struggling after just one driver signed up to use it.Not that it’s going to stop them throwing yet more good money after bad. As Mummylonglegs points out, that's not something councils need to worry about at all:
Transport for London poured almost £100,000 into the initiative in Haringey, which offers 12 charging points in car parks to encourage owners to switch from petrol and diesel.
It was hoped that hundreds of drivers would ditch the combustion engine for eco-friendly electric models to reduce the borough's carbon footprint.
But today Haringey council called the pilot “disappointing” and admitted that only one resident had paid the scheme's £50 annual registration fee since it was set up last October.
A Freedom of Information response from Haringey revealed that TfL put in £63,175 over the past two years and despite the poor uptake has committed a further £30,000 for next year.Well, it’s only taxpayer’s money, isn’t it? It’s not like there’s a new regime, or anything, is there?
A Haringey spokesman confirmed that the money will be used to install eight more vehicle-charging points across the borough. The new chargers will take up double the space.I’m sure that’ll make all the difference…
* Disclaimer: clearly only works for haunted baseball fields
Who want's to drive a Noddy car anthow ?
ReplyDelete"It was hoped that hundreds of drivers would ditch the combustion engine for eco-friendly electric models to reduce the borough's carbon footprint."
ReplyDeleteWhen will these idiots realise that electric cars DO NOT REDUCE carbon footprints (even if that were a good thing), they simply move it somewhere else. In most cases their overall energy consumption is greater than a conventional car, due to the multiple losses involved in conversion and storage.
£8000 per socket!! There's an electrician somewhere who's driving a Ferrari after doing that job.
ReplyDeleteIt would have been cheaper to buy that one driver his own personal generator!
Norfolk are hot on their heels (only as long as the extension lead will reach, though).
ReplyDeletehttp://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/news/norfolk_to_spearhead_electric_car_network_1_677036
Sorry, the link has broken - try this instead: http://tinyurl.com/23bx9hv
ReplyDelete"Who want's to drive a Noddy car anthow ?"
ReplyDeleteClearly, nowhere near enough people to make it commercially viable. But that's OK, local councils don't need to concern themselves with such things.
"When will these idiots realise that electric cars DO NOT REDUCE carbon footprints (even if that were a good thing), they simply move it somewhere else. "
It seems never. Every discussion that I've heard or read on this has many people pointing it out, yet they are simply ignored. Never challenged, no counter-claim made. The loons are aware that there are none to make.
They simply treat it as if it hadn't been said.
"There's an electrician somewhere who's driving a Ferrari after doing that job."
Heh! Let's hope so. Someone deserves to get rich...
"Norfolk are hot on their heels..."
So I see:
...government backed by the outgoing East of England Development Agency (Eeda)..."
Translation: 'Fill yer boots, boys, before the money tap is switched off!'