Why were electric cars withdrawn from UK?

Answer 1

Various electric cars have been offered in the UK over the past 100 or more years.
Because they have limited range, speed and payload (due to the mass of the batteries), they have not been competitive for everyday use with petrol or diesel since about 1920. Therefore they seldom sold in the volumes necessary to make a profit for their manufacturers. In the 1990s Peugeot-Citroën developed electric versions of the Peugeot 106 (car and van) and the Citroën Berlingo van as part of a French Government/EC funded research programme, and leased a few of these to companies in the UK - but never sold them outright due to the cost of replacing the batteries after a few years. When the subsidies ended, so did production, as they weren't profitable without it.

However electric cars do have a place for short-distance urban commuting - particularly as they are exempt from London's congestion charge, and some parking charges.

There are two brands selling electric cars in the UK at present - and both targetting the London commuter market.
GoinGreen sell the REVA G-Wizz, a basic electric car built in India.
http://www.goingreen.co.uk/

NICE cars (No Internal Combustion Engine) sell an electric version of the French Aixam quadricycle.
http://www.nicecarcompany.co.uk/
http://www.aixam.com/index.php?page_id=1130&mere_id=1125

Electric cars may make a comeback over the next 2-3 decades, but using fuel-cells to generate the electricity on-board rather than mains-charging a huge battery pack. The size, weight and cost of the batteries has always been the limiting factor for electric cars.

Answer 2

Here's something which you might find interesting about electric cars....

Back in the late1940s a chap who worked for Tungstone Batteries in Market Harborough, UK, had a three wheeler electric car which he used to commute between his home and the factory site. It was a convertible and he could often be seen driving it in his business suit and trilby hat!

Coming forward two decades, in the mid 1960s, I think it was the CEGB and the Brush Electrical Company designed and built an electric vehicle using a Morris Mini Estate. It was powered by a tray of lead acid battteries and thus weighed a lot. But it went quite well (I drove it once).

I don't know what happened to this model, but it shows that the electric car has been with us for quite a long time.

The milk float mentioned above is yet another excellent example of an electric vehicle, and the company (Harbilt) that built the best known milk float was based in Market Harborough.

Perhaps that town should become the UK centre for electric car design!

I am not sure your assertion that electric cars have been withdrawn from the UK is correct, but I have to admit that I have not yet seen a modern one on our roads.

However, once the battery capacity problems has been overcome and electric vehicles gain a range of around 250 miles between charges, I think we will see them in greater numbers.

I know the above does not directly answer your question, but I hope it adds to your knowledge of the electric car in the UK.

Answer 3

the former chief of the golf eco-friendly social gathering of Canada made a gigantic deal about using a Prius, although the present chief does no longer have a vehicle, makes use of public transportation. Batteries are not any further an environmental project even although they seem to be a fee project. what's a project is that manufacturers have chosen oftentimes to prepare the technologies to automobiles which aren't any further optimal, no longer low-priced customers of power. Honda did keep on with a pair quite low-priced automobiles, yet even then did not pull way previous to the %. for gas monetary device. What i like about Prius isn't the vehicle, although the very undeniable truth that our photo voltaic panel can fee it up sufficient to get to and from city without operating the engine. It is going quite slowly, like 40 km/h on merely battery, yet I truly have time.

Answer 4

People kept tripping over the long extension leads.

Answer 5

They are not many particularly commercial ones are used daily.Regards Mick From the OLD Country.

Answer 6

my milk float is electric

Answer 7

They are not withdrawn, they are everywhere...