According to the recent article “Ministers embrace electric car revolution” in The Independent, Prime Minister Gordon Brown is looking to revolutionize the British auto industry and market. Brown wants all new cars sold in Britain to be electric or hybrid vehicles by 2020, and he wants “to see those cars manufactured in Britain” to reduce not only pollution but also the cost of the vehicles.
One of the ideas Brown is considering to meet his 2020 goal is providing motorists with cars just as mobile-phone customers now get their handsets. In return, they would take out a contract for a maximum number of miles. According to the article, “The scheme, which has already been taken up by Israel and Denmark, would sell heavily subsidized vehicles – or even give them away – in return for contracts to buy the electricity to charge them.”
Brown is looking into Shai Agassi’s heavily criticized Project Better Place battery exchange where one exchanges a dead battery for a fully charged battery at a special charging station in an effort to reduce charge time. However, with the infrastructure already available for standard charging of electric vehicles, particularly throughout the U.K. where public charging stations are not uncommon, one wonders why Brown wouldn’t instead consider implementing fast-charging stations instead of an entire battery-swap-out. Regardless, it’s promising to see a leader step-up, think outside the proverbial box, and attempt to revolutionize his corner of the globe.
