Not missing a chance to push the hype to ever higher limits, the Conservative-controlled Lincoln City Council has been boasting how it is using an electric car to ferry staff to and from meetings. The story has escaped captivity and is also meandering through the (local) media.
The car in question is the Smart Fortwo (electric version).
They must have very long meetings in the Lincoln Council (and all in the morning), because the electric Fortwo has a quoted range of only 84 miles (which means more like 50 miles in reality). It takes the standard 8 hours to recharge fully, although you can charge it to 80% in “only” 3 hours.
Rob Smith from the City of Lincoln Council said: “This will give our staff an insight into the benefits of driving an electric car and as an organisation, it will give us an idea of whether or not an electric fleet would be beneficial for the council.”
If anyone is so dim as to still be in doubt about the drawbacks of a sub-100 mile range per charge, and the necessary wait until it is charged (just imagine sitting on a garage forecourt for 3 hours next time you fill up – that should help), then I’m sure this trial will enlighten them. Mind you, I expect the behind-the-scenes charging will be kept away from them while they are “busy” in their meetings.
When I looked it up in Car magazine I saw the first mention of what happens when you do anything other than drive the things under perfect test conditions (or if anthing other than a Cray supercomputer is operating the controls). You see, the Fortwo electric also boasts a 0-37mph time which can be measured using an hourglass rather than a stopwatch:
The go-slower gibe isn’t entirely genuine, since electric motors develop maximum torque from 0rpm and this thing leaves the line like a stabbed rat, thereafter smearing slightly more languidly to 37mph in a quoted 6.5 seconds and on to a governed 62mph. Only thing is, such performance requires the use of a kickdown function which boosts maximum power from 20 to 30 kW for up to two minutes, sending the power reserve meter into a rate of decline on a par with pushing an anvil off a cliff.
So basically, what this is saying is that if you want to go a bit faster the quoted maximum range is likely to fall substantially. This leaves you with the choice of forcing other motorists to wait for another traffic light change (and letting them pump out more greenhouse gases), or run the risk of the power giving out in the middle of a junction if you’re a bit low on juice – and you will be even when it is fully charged.
All this is is a pointless (and expensive) publicity-generating stunt involving the Lincoln Council, Lincoln University, and Cenex (“the UK’s Centre of Excellence for low carbon and fuel cell technology”).
All the higher primates can already see that this is not going to replace petrol- and diesel-driven vehicles – and particularly not with a Fortwo, which is slower and more restricted than just about every other electric car out there.
And it’s also only a two-seater.