DRIVEN MAD
I’m a Top Gear star & EV owner – the UK isn’t ready for electric cars… their batteries aren’t fit for drivers
A TOP Gear star and EV owner says the UK isn't ready for electric cars - as their batteries aren't fit for drivers.
James May said that Britain needs millions more electric chargers, and that EV chargers are currently too slow.
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Speaking on Radio 4's Today Programme, he said: "You can go to a petrol station and can be there for two or two and a half minutes and that can give a range of 400-600 miles.
"An electric car will charge to 80 per cent in 20 minutes – that's still 10 times as long.
"I think we would need, given current technology, millions of chargers – not tens or hundreds of thousands."
The Grand Tour star added that batteries are "not good enough for what we’re expecting of the electric car".
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But EV expert Prof Julia King said: "I drive an electric car and we have a usable range of 250 miles on it - I don’t drive 250 miles without stopping.
"To me it doesn’t bother me that I should stop for 20 minutes and have a coffee.
"We certainly don’t need millions of chargers - but we do need to see our charging network much better than it is now and much better maintained.
"And we do need to make sure everyone is fully connected to it so you can genuinely tell a charger will be available."
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