Electric vehicles on Top Gear this Sunday

[Teslas fag packet]

Well for what it's worth i think it is a pate' starter for the main course which is them eating there hats.

Surly EV's are going to be un ignorable in the next couple of years and this is the start of them back peddling without being seen to do so.

Remember last series when we....... now here is the new lightning

[aminorjourney]

Oh I hope so, I really do!

That would be awesome.

The team at Lightning seem very dedicated and know their stuff - so here's to a fantastic EV from them in 2008!

[MB]

Well I've had a few interesting discussions with real petrol-heads since the show went out on Sunday. I have to say everyone was impressed that a G-Wiz could be made to out-accelerate a Shelby Mustang on electric power alone. It burst a few pre-conceptions about electric vehicles being slow and therefore pointless - and for that reason, it was a worthwhile piece of journalism.

For sure it ridiculed the G-Wiz, but it didn't ridicule electric cars in general - instead it showed what really was possible with electric power.

[aminorjourney]

Hi Mike,

I don't know. I just feel that, with really decent commercial and fantastic ammeter conversions out there that would have dusted a mustang without being mucked around with they could have done an equally shocking piece.

It would have worked really well had they gone "Okay, now here's a slow boring EV" only to have it blow the pants off the Mustang.

We know EVs can be fast - so do they - I just disagree with the model they chose! ! !

[ChrisB]

Interesting comments , I have yet to see the actual program as its on our TiVo waiting for me, I migth try and get time later tonight to watch it , but it does seem to have got Nikki's back up

ChrisB

[MB]

Hi Mike,

I don't know. I just feel that, with really decent commercial and fantastic ammeter conversions out there that would have dusted a mustang without being mucked around with they could have done an equally shocking piece.

It would have worked really well had they gone "Okay, now here's a slow boring EV" only to have it blow the pants off the Mustang.

We know EVs can be fast - so do they - I just disagree with the model they chose! ! !

You know electric vehicles can be fast. I know that electric vehicles can be fast. The general public do not.

If you mention 'electric vehicle' to the average man-in-the-street, they'll think milk float. If you mention 'electric vehicle' in London and they'll think G-Wiz.

So the Top Gear team started with something that people related to - i.e. a slow electric vehicle - and then made it a lightning fast electric vehicle. In other words they took people from their preconceived ideas about what an electric vehicle is and took them on a journey.

Oh yes, they had a lot of fun at the expense of the G-Wiz along the way, but there was no doubting at the end of the piece that an electric vehicle could be made to go exceptionally quick. And that takes away one of the barriers to sale that people unconciously put up against buying an EV - "it's too slow".

Ask most people what they want from their car and they put together a whole list of things the car must be capable of - a fast motorway cruising speed, a range of several hundred miles, capable of taking a Ford Transit load of luggage, etc. etc. People don't analyse their needs and look at them objectively. If they did, a lot more people would find that an electric car would make an ideal vehicle for them, but you don't get those people to accept that in one go - first you take an electric vehicle and show that it can achieve the things they think they need.

(As an aside, this is true even of G-Wiz owners. Why does the G-Wiz have four seats? Because most G-Wiz owners believe they need four seats. Most of them don't, but they wouldn't have bought the car if it only had two seats. The fact it is a four seater is one of the main reasons it sells over other electric cars that are available).

So will more people start enquiring about electric vehicles as a result of the Top Gear show? I can answer that catagorically: YES. Since the show went out on Sunday, web traffic at the G-Wiz owner's club has gone up threefold. We have received enquiries on our forums about the G-Wiz. I have received e-mails from people wanting to find out more about the car. How can this be bad news for electric cars? For that matter, how can this be bad news for the G-Wiz?

So the show has opened people's mind to the possibility of owning an electric car. Although I can't prove it, I believe it will start to change people's perceptions about the lack of performance in an electric car, which is going to be an important step in the general acceptance of electric cars in the next few years.

[aminorjourney]

Hmmm. I have yet to see positive outcomes Mike, but I'll bow to your experiences.

I still say a Tesla or Wrightspeed would have been more in keeping with the show. After all, how many times do you see them dealing with the low spec family car? Let's face it. It's a car show for people who like to dream of owning a super fast car!

And, when most people speak to me about EVs the first thing they ask about is something like the Tesla or EV1. Maybe it's just those Bristol folk being a bit more clued up

[ChrisB]

Well I've managed to watch the said show and I have to first say is..........how can I get my hands on that hopped up version of the G-wiz then

I dont think it was too evil, yeah it took the mick out of the G-wiz but as Mike says its raised the profile of the G-wiz I'd think by quite a way.

TG are almost never likely to sing the praises of EV's until they can match or exceed something along the lines of a DB7 with perfomance and range on one charge, perfomance is easy, as shown the other Sunday and the G-wiz, the main stumbling block will always be the range issue

This is always what causes me probs with the blingo when I'm talking to folk about it, they all look shocked and have big smilies when I say it will do 65mph and costs me just under a £1 to charge it up but when you say it has a range of 50-65miles they then start to get the jitters, the fact 99% of the trips are well within its range seems to go out the window

Right getting back to the G-Wiz on TG, I've read your bit on your forum Mike but you dont say where they had their one kitted out with the extra goodies, also I do hope they didnt blow it with all the kit in place what a waste of tastey stuff.

ChrisB

[Teslas fag packet]

BTW as much as a hate looking on you tube for TG clips
here it is

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=KKaU20eoFAc

neither my self nor the BVS are responsible for the content of external links from this or any forum lip service lip service blar blar ... you know the script blar.

[Teslas fag packet]

Oh yes and ....

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=eJfRdz_TH0E&NR=1