The Electric Car Debate at EcoVelocity with Robert Llewellyn

On Saturday 11 September, the EcoVelocity low carbon vehicle show played host to a brilliant an enlightening panel discussion about electric cars, organised by TheChargingPoint.com and run in association with Nissan.

Hosted by our man Robert Llewellyn, star of TV shows Red Dwarf and Scrapheap Challenge but now just as noteworthy for his incredible electric vehicle knowledge, the debate featured a number of other stars and field experts. Mark Goodier, Smooth FM radio DJ and long-time electric car owner, Siân Berry, a former London Mayoral candidate for the Green Party and now sustainability campaigner for the Campaign for Better Transport, Dan Hill, presenter of eco property TV show The New Reclaimers, and Richard Candler from Nissan Technology Centre Europe were all on hand with expert knowledge.

The many challenging topics chewed over included the thorny issue of 'range anxiety' and just how concerned buyers should be about it, whether the taxpayer should be funding EV charging infrastructure, whether or not electric cars are actually 'green', if batteries will cost a fortune to replace and whether or not electric cars are, in reality, a bit of a white elephant.

The debate lasted 50 minutes but we've condensed it into this easily digestible and extremely lively 20-minute package. It's surprisingly fun, too.

N.B. The opinions expressed are those of the individuals.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• The Electric Car Debate
• Robert Llewellyn
• video
• ecovelocity
• Mark Goodier
• Siân Berry
• Dan Hill
• Richard Candler
• electric cars
• ev
• debate
• range anxiety
• charging
• cost
• nissan leaf
• vauxhall ampera
• auto energy

[zlozlozlo]

I see. So will there ever be the rest of it to see for those of us with attention spans large enough to digest the whole thing?

[TheChargingPoint]

@zlozlozlo And there we were thinking 20 minutes would be too much! It will happen in the next few days.

[ivarsrini]

brilliant discussion. The myth of Hydrogen!.

[dpeilow]

Oh yes - props to Richard Candler for the succinct answer to the hydrogen question.

I know Robert doesn't like to take sides, but I'm none the wiser as to why I would want a hydrogen fuel cell at home.

[dpeilow]

Great discussion and it's clear that Sian Berry and Dan Hill need a little bit more schooling in this area :-)

Yes if we want really low-carbon transport then it would be fantastic if we lower the overall carbon intensity of the grid, but there is no point in banging on about that without acknowledging that even if we switch today we are better off than the status quo.

[GrammarGirl1991]

@zlozlozlo read the description ;) "The debate lasted 50 minutes but we've condensed it into this easily digestible and extremely lively 20-minute package. It's surprisingly fun, too."

[zlozlozlo]

Could easily have been twice as long. Seriously, why only 20 minutes? The event went on for 3 days, they could easily have given you an hour or so.