Thursday, February 14, 2008

Its An EV, Not A Wraith.

Electric Vehicles in London are getting a little smack laid down in the congestion charge department. They used to enjoy an exemption when clogging the streets, but now will be grouped with the lowest emissions category instead of their own zero group. I can see plenty of people getting pissed off about this, especially if they just bought an EV to skirt the charge.

But oddly enough, I'm fine with it. Its a congestion charge, not an emissions charge. Sure, its aimed at reducing emissions in the long run, but its direct target is taking cars off the most congested roads. The very presence of congestion worsens everyone's fuel economy, so even though you're not belching C02 you're still contributing to the mess and producing second hand CO2. So while using an EV is a step in the right direction, its not biking or taking the tube.

(P.S. Your tailpipe will spew CO2 as long as we burn stuff to make power, no matter how far away from your car it is.)

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