What does London’s electric vehicle future look like?

From cheap charging costs to reduced air pollution.

Transcript

00:00environmental issues have been amongst the hottest topics in london over recent years

00:05from the ultra low emission zone to e-bikes and scooters taking over the streets of the capital

00:12now though according to energy company eon it could be possible to charge an electric vehicle

00:18for just two pounds 70 depending on the vehicle i spoke to electric vehicle campaigner and

00:24comedian robert lewin to find out more the new electric vehicles we're seeing around us now

00:30the idea of that came out of the computer industry out of silicon valley not from the car industry

00:35the car industry were fully the traditional old car and fully wedded to combustion engines and to

00:41carry on burning oil and it was weird uh computer nerds that came up with the idea of using the

00:46batteries that they were used to using in phones and laptops and and you know ipads and things like

00:52that to to power cars and so it's really from that point that i became aware of it i wasn't

00:58convinced it was a good idea until i started driving electric cars which was really around 2010.

01:04Charging your electric car versus filling up with petrol is just the sensible economic thing to do

01:08it's more pounds in your pocket better for the environment in terms of the miles you're doing so

01:12everything in the shop £2.70 because that's the cost of charging a small city-based car overnight

01:18so you know we all know from wandering into a coffee shop that £2.70 quite often doesn't

01:22even buy you a latte these days doesn't buy you that full loaf of bread so look it's a little fun

01:26comparison it shows what we're really trying to draw attention to is driving an ev is a great

01:31thing for driving standards for the environment but also it's the sensible choice when it comes to

01:35getting a few extra quid in your pocket as well good a good idea which is what one of the people in

01:40the shop just said is what does it cost to drive from here in central london to birmingham and in a

01:45petrol car it's around 30 35 pounds depending on the car you're driving if you're driving a really big

01:50suv it's about 50 pounds and it will cost you two pounds 70 in an electric car and i think that

01:57change makes people see oh hang on a minute because i've been told electric cars are really expensive

02:02and they're really expensive to charge and you get cost so no now while evs may be cheaper to run

02:07at the moment electric vehicles are generally more expensive to purchase the average cost of a new

02:13petrol car is around 21 000 pounds while an average new electric vehicle is around 10 000 pounds more

02:21expensive now most uk energy companies are offering low tariffs for ev drivers but how is london coping

02:29with electric vehicles and is it leading the way for the rest of the uk well we all know there's loads

02:34of firsts all through history in london actually london in terms of the uk was one of the first cities

02:38to really adopt electric vehicle driving again obviously busy city roads small cars it suits it

02:45perfectly we're seeing a big shift in the air quality in london has really improved in the last

02:50three years and this is really largely down to taxis buses delivery vans and obviously cars