Sports Dispatch

Electric cars:

For all the political hype, London is still ambivalent about them

ONCE the preserve of ageing former presidents, overfed golf stars and milkmen, electric vehicles are much in vogue these days. A survey this month by esure, a car-insurance company, found that 71% of British motorists would consider driving one, and all the main political parties have burnished their green credentials by supporting financial incentives for owners of cars with low carbon-dioxide emissions. This, and the painfully high price of petrol, has seen the number of electric cars in London increase dramatically, from 90 in 2003 to 1,600 in 2008.

At first glance, this figure seems bound to rise further. Last month Boris Johnson, London’s new mayor, said that he was setting up a body to support electric-car drivers in the capital—the Electric Vehicle Partnership for London. Top of its list of things to do is installing more public points at which electric-car owners may top up their batteries. At the moment there are 40 spots dotted around the London streets where drivers who have paid GBP75 for a key can pull in and plug in free of charge, and some privately owned car parks have charging points too. Another 100 charging stations are now on the cards. …