UK’s motor vanity fair (16) [Bâlciul deşertăciunilor cu motor din UK]

Apart from the Congestion Charge making London such a liveable city compared to other metropolises, the UK’s capital is on the way to becoming “the electric car capital of Europe.”

This is the ambition of its Tory mayor, Boris Johnson, who announced over a year ago that he’s planning to invest £ 20 million in this ‘green project’.

Back then, Gordon Brown had promised that the UK Government would give the rest up to £ 60 million, as London couldn’t afford the entire investment.

But that was before the country’s finances went from bad to worse. Would David Cameron’s Government keep Brown’s commitment?

According to Johnson, cars like those in these images – the pics 3 & 4 being provided by C.L., a reader of this blog – should evolve from a mere peculiarity on London’s streets into being an ‘easy choice’ for Londoners.

Even his administration (Greater London Authority – GLA) is supposed to replace at least 1,000 of its fleet with electric vehicles.

It’s very likely that not all of them will be as little as those shown here, rivaling in size with most other small cars.

Actually, this G-Wiz car is smaller than Daimler’s Smart, and BMW’s Mini, and it’s obviously a strange type of vehicle (but already having a car club).

Meant to be driven almost exclusively within cities, not on motorways or country roads, such a car is sold for an average price of £ 7,000 – more than Tata Motors’ Nano :-)

A G-Wiz promises savings of over £ 9,000 per year, and has no carbon footprint… in case some buyers may still be fooled by this (anthropogenic) Global Warming swindle.

Some 100,000 electric cars should appear on London’s streets in a few years, and Johnson promises to build 25,000 charging points.

Not for the sake of reducing carbon emissions, but because such cars would make London even a more pleasant city, I wish Johnson’s ambition would turn into reality!

[For all the episodes of this series, and all the posts on this blog go to/Pentru toate episoadele din această serie şi toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la: Contents/Cuprins]