Gee…that’s NICE.

We were delighted to read today that the electric car company, NICE, have resumed trading as the London sales arm of AIXAM-MEGA Ltd. NICE, who had some of their vehicles at last year’s ‘Green Motoring Pavilion’ at the British Motor Show, went into administration in November. ‘Where was their bailout?’ we asked at the time. So much for the Government rescuing the ailing car industry. Here was a company who were trying to solve the problems we have with cars and the pollution they create, rather than burying their heads in the sand, like some (most) manufacturers I could mention.

So it’s good news that they’re trading again. Electric cars certainly face a tough challenge when it comes to gaining street cred, but there are signs that things are starting to go in the right direction.

I think of the furore last year over the G-Wiz, built by the Reva electric car company based in India. With their limited range (40 - 75 miles) and limited speed (51 mph), they seemed an option for only a few people (or perhaps that should be one or two relatively slim people – their size being a perceived problem too). But the average speed of traffic in London is 9 miles per hour. Do we really need a car that goes 120 mph?

When the motoring journos started harping on about safety: ‘You’d be safer crouching in a wheelbarrow!’ one screeched like an over-zealous health and safety inspector, I actually bought in to the worries. Being a mother, I figured you’d never catch me in one with my family. But then I looked at the figures and found that there have been NO serious accidents reported with G-Wizes. A bit of spin to scare people off, methinks… New ideas are so scary, after all.

It’s interesting to see that there are going to be subsidies available for those who are wanting to buy a cleaner car. There are some problems with the scheme but that’s no reason to dismiss it out of hand. Let’s see what the uptake is and the outcome – we may be pleasantly surprised.

Sarah, for We Are Futureproof

Scrappage scheme + green car incentive = success!!

A lot has been written this week about the proposal to introduce a scrappage payment for old cars in the UK. Car industry interest in this is unsurprising given the perilous state of the international car industry; car production is down this month by 59% compared to last year. Manufacturers have a clear interest in scrappage schemes, since they can “pull-through” new demand at a time when new car sales are falling off a cliff. In theory at least, Government makes its money back through VAT receipts, which could make the whole policy cost-neutral.

Environmentalists distrust scrappage schemes because the industry supports them. However, as I put it at one meeting recently, just because the car industry supports a particular policy doesn’t necessarily make it a bad thing!

The serious question is whether this is an environmentally friendly policy. On the face of it, trading in an old banger for a nice new motor has benefits, particularly from an Air Quality point of view. Old cars (pre-2000) were built before air-quality restrictions (so-called Euro Standards) came into force. Therefore from an air-quality point of view, trading in your old clunker for a new model is usually going to be a good thing, even if you’re swapping an old petrol for a new diesel car (air quality regulations on diesels are tighter these days than the old “pre-Euro” petrol cars).

The tougher issue is whether scrappage schemes do anything for CO2 emissions. On their own, scrappage schemes don’t help, simply because there is no way to tell whether people will ditch old fuel-efficient models for new gas guzzlers. They may trade in their SUV for a Prius; or they may swap their Clio for a Hummer. There’s no way to tell, or control this.

That’s why we need another tool in the toolbox – a genuine incentive for people to buy a low carbon car. If we had this in place alongside a scrappage scheme, then we could really see people ditching old gas-guzzlers for shiny new low-carbon cars, and transform the market practically overnight.

There are various purchase incentive options. The easiest for the Government is to reform VED even further, making it more expensive to own a gas-guzzler than a gas-sipper. The Government has made useful reforms here, but the drawback is it doesn’t send a clear message at the point-of-sale.

Another option would be to cut VAT for fuel-efficient, low-CO2 cars, in the way that VAT is reduced for energy-efficient household products like lightbulbs. Even better, the Government could go the whole hog and introduce a car-purchase tax weighted by CO2 emissions. However this might be politically tricky (to put it mildly).

I think the easiest option is to reform VED further to give a clearer signal that gas-guzzlers cost a fortune to own, and combine this with a big customer campaign to make sure people are aware of this when choosing their new vehicle. Doing this alongside a scrappage scheme could get people trading in their old gas-guzzlers for climate friendly models in huge numbers, creating a win-win for the climate and the carmakers.

Alex Veitch, for We Are Futureproof

Bailout deals for the car industry would hurt innovation

We’ve been hearing a lot in the press about the Big Three automakers in the US asking for a huge bailout loan to help them survive during the economic downturn.

Well, the response from the new car innovators who have put some serious investment into the future of electric cars are worried. According to ft.com, “the US electric car industry could be put at risk because of the short-term focus on bailing out the Big Three carmakers, according to two of the leading Silicon Valley entrepreneurs involved in the field.

Those entrepreneurs are Elon Musk, founder of Tesla Motors and Shai Agassi, founder of Better Place, which aims to build the recharging infrastructure to support electric vehicles.

Mr Agassi, a former head of technology at software company SAP, and Mr Musk, whose other ventures have included PayPal and the SpaceX private rocket programme, have become the leaders of a new movement.

“It’s kind of silly to say that the Big Three are going bankrupt making the gas-guzzlers they’ve always made, and then give the money to them,” said Musk.

According to Agassi,  “substantial capital injection is needed” for the electric vehicle industry to reach significant scale… significant government support and an overhaul of incentives are needed to boost supply and demand for electric vehicles.” Otherwise, “none of this will happen in the US”, he said.

So, we’re watching closely to see what happens next. The question is, how long will we continue to bail out old technologies and old companies when much brighter and greener solutions are already here? In the UK, Jaguar Landrover (owned by Tata) are also asking for significant loans.

Blake, We Are Futureproof