So many pitfalls with going electric

THE introduction of electric cars is potentially an exciting project where motorists are buying a revolution and there’s now 400,000 of them on the roads.

The production of petrol vehicles is supposed to be phased out by 2030, but costs of EVs depends on their size and model, battery capacity and availability of a suitable charging point.

On some of the region’s city and suburban streets the time factor for completed work could provide a “grey area” as North

East charging points aren’t springing up like mushrooms!

Terraced streets pose a particular problem with today’s cars stretching nose to tail and there would be chaos attempting to use a mutually available charging point?

Some running costs are cheaper, and less prone to wear and tear, but until there’s a viable and adequate “miles per charge” the cars could be a white elephant?

Some police authorities are keen on ”going electric” and Gloucestershire police have spent a tidy sum on 84 vehicles, with South Yorkshire spending a £1m on a fleet of 135 cars, and Police Scotland 416.

Tyne and Wear only ripple the surface as it’s estimated 28,000 charging points are required and I think anyone’s in “cloud cuckoo land” if they think the 2030 deadline will be met. Dr Jeremy Pearson, the senior lecturer in policing at Sunderland University, said: “If the Government is determined to introduce these vehicles for policing they’ll need to subsidise forces, as it could be necessary to require two electric vehicles over 24 hours, and there’s also the possibility of the electric ones “running out of puff!”

CHRIS ROBINSON, Gosforth