Babbage Engine
Posted on 10/21/2011 8:19:00 AM PDT by george76
Figures show that only 106 electric cars were bought in 2011 third quarter through 'plugged-in car grant' scheme.
Hopes that £5,000 government grants would make 2011 "remembered as the year the electric car took off" have been dashed with the release of new figures showing uptake of the greener cars has sputtered out.
...
The number of electric vehicles in the UK stands at just 1,107, a tiny chunk of the country's 28.5m cars. But the government had hoped to incentivise take-up with the launch of grants of up to £5,000
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
LOL with the legendary issues with the electric system of a British-built car, is it any wonder?
Lucas Electric?
Not to worry. Once those Finland made electric cars hit the market I’m sure sales will take off. Then Fisker can pay us back. After he pays all the democrats their kickbacks.
"The figures come as a new documentary, Revenge of the Electric Car, opens in the US on Friday, charting the rapid rise in popularity of electric cars in the US and the success of the Chevy Volt."
Also, they couldn’t figure out how to make the cars leak oil...
The deal breaker, according to the comment section, is that the Nissan Leaf costs 26K British Pounds, even with the 5K rebate.
Also there’s the joke about;
“Why aren’t there any British made computers?”
“They can’t figure out a way to make them leak oil.”
Babbage Engine
I once had an Austin Healey 3000 in which the Lucas electric fuel pump would regularly decide to quit. I had to remove the right rear tire and whack the pump a few times with a wrench to bring it back to life. I finally just ripped it out and replaced it with an AC Delco pump from Checker. No more problems.
Very cool! I’d forgotten reading about him in school. Thanks for the reminder!
The BBC’s Top Gear test drove two electric cars from London to the sea. Both ran out of charge halfway through the journey. And in a sizeable town in a country where Green Madness took over more than a decade ago, they could find no charging stations. Finally a local university let them plug into their 220v. mains, which took 13 hours to recharge the batteries.
Surprised the politicians over there didn’t require politicians to buy the cars.
/sarc
It’s always good showmanship to open with a joke. :)
I think Sinclair was a British computer company back in the 60s and 70s. Yeah they puttered out but everything back then was archaic compared to what we’re using now (or even 10 years later).
Sinclair made a small, almost pocket size computers called the ZX-80. It was also available in kit form. The later model, ZX-81, rivaled my TRS-80 for computing power, but was hundreds of dollars less.
Sinclair is also known for their excellent programmable calculators that came with a 4 volume set of programs that made it much easier and quicker to use than the more expensive TI-59 that was considered state of the art in 1978.
“Lucas Electric?”
Prince of Darkness
>a 1950’s joke
http://www.nvg.ntnu.no/sinclair/audio/micro-6.htm
To translate, the price was just under three pounds sterling...:^)
lighten up, Lucile, it was a joke.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.