The electric vehicle industry has strongly criticized a BBC reporters attempt to drive the 434 miles from London to Edinburgh in an electric car after the four-day demonstration raised the hackles of green car advocates.
Brian Milligan charged his electric Mini using only publicly available charge points, but consistently voiced his concerns on the BBC website that his Mini Es range was insufficient and charging points were difficult to locate.
But supporters of electric vehicles (EVs), including actor and presenter Robert Llewellyn, have criticized the stunt on a number of fronts, starting with Milligans choice of car.
The BBC said it plumped for the Mini E because it was more affordable than other available EVs of similar specifications, but despite Milligans references to the car as a "mass produced EV", the Mini E is actually a testing model produced for trials.
Milligans complaints of "range anxiety" while undertaking the kind of lengthy trip electric cars are not designed for, coupled with his failure to mention how much cheaper it would be to undertake the journey in an EV than a conventional car were also interpreted as attempts to discredit EVs, with many critics questioning his agenda.
Low carbon motoring expert Ben Lane, director of the Next Green Car website, pointed out that EVs are not designed for such distances, rendering the whole demonstration an unfair test.
"While EVs do not suit all journeys, recent trials have shown that they are ideal for regular city trips and commuting," he said. "No one is suggesting that they are the vehicle of choice for crossing the country or for trips more than 100 miles."
He added that Milligans difficulties finding public charging points were also unrepresentative of the experience of most EV drivers.
"Most of the research suggests that charging at home, not on-street, will be how most future EVs are refueled," he said. "Having a nation-wide recharging network is not necessary to kick-start the EV revolution."
The BBCs stunt prompted EV advocate and engineer David Peilow to highlight the technical viability of electric vehicles by covering the same distance in a Tesla sports car in just one day, stopping just twice for recharging.
source: APEC-VC Korea
