Thursday, September 23, 2010

Electric Cars - the future

Today's meeting of the Environment Partnership had another update on progress on electric cars in the North East.  It's good to know that the North East is still leading the way. The network of charging points is almost in place in Stockton and in some other parts of the North East but sadly our neighbouring authorities in the Tees Vally haven't really started on theirs.  They really do need to get a move on.
The new generation of battery electric cars will be on the market from January.  By this time next year there should be a full range including vans, cars and various utility vehicles.  With ranges of 50 to 100 miles they can easily cope with a day's driving round the local area and be charged up overnight.  With extra charging points round the area for top ups as needed they can also be used for longer journeys, and with a cost equivalent to getting 200 - 300 mpg from diesel they will certainly be economical to run. They will certainly start to make a difference to the cleanliness of our air in towns and to the carbon emissions for the borough, allbeit very slowly at first.
There's also some very good work going on to enable installation of many more photo-voltaic cells so that houses, council buildings and schools can all benefit as well as some small businesses.  Watch this space, or more precisely, watch the rooftops around the borough!

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