MOTORING
A FEW weeks ago I launched a broadside about the Government’s electric car policy being in a mess — in particular, the lack of charging points.
My Whitehall and industry sources tell me it rattled a few cages at the Department for Transport. So, this week, deputy prime minister Nick Clegg announced a £500 million injection to put more spark into electric car sales and provide additional charging points.
The £5,000 taxpayer subsidy for motorists to buy electric cars, such as the Nissan Leaf, Vauxhall Ampera and BMW i3, is to be extended for two years to 2017 — or until at least 50,000 grants have been claimed — at a cost to taxpayers of £200 million.
Last September, ministers guaranteed the full £5,000 subsidy only until May 2015.
Significantly, to end so-called range anxiety — fear of running out of power before reaching a destination — they have pledged £32 million to create more rapid charging points on motorways and A-roads. At present there are only 6,000 public charging points, of which one in four is in London.
Last year, Britain’s motorists bought just 3,584 electric cars, of which 2,512 were pure elec- tric, and 1,072 plug- in vehicles, with a conventional engine as back-up. In the first three months of this year, 1,754 electric vehicles (1,229 pure electric) have been sold, compared to 624 last year.
BMW’s i8 plug-in hybrid supercar
(pictured) might help turn the tide. It can do 0 to 62 mph in 4.4 seconds up to a (restricted) top speed of 155 mph.
On sale in July at £99,845, its three-cylinder 1.5 litre turbo petrol engine and 129 bhp electric motor promise 135 mpg. AS SCHOOLS go, it must be the ultimate fast- track to a career in Formula 1 racing — yesterday Silverstone University Technical College (UTC) opened officially. Principal Neil Patterson, a former engineering boss at McLaren, said: ‘The timing of the opening is just before the European leg of the F1 calendar. Many students have aspirations to work in the industry, and they are all getting experience that will help them achieve that goal.’
College patron Adrian Newey, chief technical officer of Infiniti Red Bull Racing, who performed the ceremony, said: ‘F1 teams have the luxury of being able to pick the very best employees and education is key to this.
‘The students at Silverstone have fabulous facilities and this gives them a great opportunity.’
UTCs offer pupils aged 14 to 18 the opportunity to take a highly regarded, full-time, technically oriented course of study. Details: utc-silverstone.co.uk
MOTORISTS are set to pay another 2p a litre at the pumps as Vladimir Putin’s actions in Ukraine have pushed petrol prices back to more than 130p a litre for the first time since January, the RAC has warned.
‘Sadly, the political tensions over Ukraine have negatively affected the price motorists pay at the pumps,’ says the RAC’s fuel spokesman Simon Williams.