From
next week, Streetcar is giving the general public the chance to drive
one of Europe’s first plug-in electric hybrid cars.
In a joint initiative with Camden
Council and Transport for London (TfL), the Amberjac conversion Prius
(one of only 25 such cars in the world) will be added to Streetcar’s
fleet of 1,200 pay-as you-go vehicles.
It will be operated from Camden’s
Bloomsbury Car Park in Holborn.
Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said:
“Car clubs are a great way to be green and it’s even better news that
Londoners will be able to use a cleaner car to make their trips. I want
London to be at the forefront of the electric car revolution and
initiatives such as this are an important stepping stone along the way.”
The car has a revolutionary plug-in
facility, allowing its battery to be charged from a domestic outlet
(preferably with renewable energy) or an on-street electric charging
point. It has an electric only range of around 35 miles1 and
with the majority of car club trips being under this mileage, Streetcar
has estimated that over 66% of journeys in the car will release zero
exhaust emissions. This will benefit local air quality.
Announcing this motoring first, Brett
Akker, Streetcar’s co-founder, said: “Our 55,000 members are expected to
rise to 250,000 by 2012, as more and more people recognise the
environmental and cost benefits of joining a car club. Once they have
made that decision, we want to offer them the best possible service –
and, from next week, our members will be the first people in Europe to
hire a car with this electric technology.
Cllr, Chris Knight, Camden Council’s
Executive Member for the Environment, said: “Camden Council is charged
up about electric cars and the introduction of Europe’s first electric
car club. More people sharing mean fewer cars on the road so less
congestion and pollution – and that’s great news for the environment.
Also as the credit crunch bites, the message is hitting home that using
car clubs instead of owning a vehicle can bring big savings.”
The advantage of the plug-in hybrid
over a pure electric car is versatility. Where an electric vehicle would
simply run out of charge if a Streetcar member couldn’t recharge it; the
plug-in simply switches to the regular combustion engine. This means it
is suitable for short city driving and for longer trips.
And even when it does go beyond its
electric only capacity, it still makes huge energy savings. At speeds of
50 to 60 mph, an average of over 100 mpg is possible as the plug-in uses
stored electric energy from the battery system.
By comparison a standard hybrid has
an electric only range of 1-2 miles before the conventional engine cuts
in. It uses a battery working with the conventional engine to deliver
only small efficiency at low speeds with the battery being recharged by
the engine itself.
Regular Streetcar user, Philip Day,
said: “ I have read so much about electric cars and am delighted that
Streetcar will now give me the chance to actually try one out. It must
be the way forward for motoring”.
With every Streetcar vehicles being
used by 45 different drivers, this plug-in vehicle is the first super
low-emission car to viably remove privately owned vehicles off the road.
|
