Can electric vehicles overtake competing green car technologies?

Adam Vaughan

25th February, 2009

Electric cars are backed as a climate panacea by the majority, but are there negative impacts we're missing in the rush to electrification?

The tale of why the Eden Project created an eco car show has lessons for sustainable transport across the UK. The Cornwall-based eco attraction worked hard to encourage visitors to use green transport, offering the bribe of cheaper entry for anyone who arrived by bike, foot or public transport. It didn’t work. So, in 2007, Eden’s Gus Grand founded the Sexy Green Car Show, deciding that if she couldn’t change visitors’ mode of transport, she could at least make it lower carbon. The show was a success, attracting more than 46,000 visitors in its first year.

Gus’s experience is a microcosm of the UK. While groups such as the Campaign for Better Transport lobby for more and better public transport, cycling and walking, the car remains king, with car journeys clocking up 402.4 billion kilometres in 2006, compared to a mere 5.4 billion on coaches and buses.

In a world where few are ready or willing to give up their cars, electric vehicles (EVs) are emerging as a bright hope for greening our personal transport. EVs, as they’re known, are fast overtaking competing green car technologies such as hydrogen and biofuel, and are attracting the backing of Gordon Brown, the Liberal...

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