Electric Cars - Part of the Solution, or just delaying the Problem a bit?

Nissan Leaf - the most popular electric car in the UK.

Electric cars.
Love them or hate them, they look like they are here to stay.

With the recent changes proposed to the system for taxing motor vehicle ownership in the UK, hybrids will be taxed much more than currently, while "true" electric cars will pay no annual tax (like the rest of us do - I pay about 145 pounds (about 225 dollars, about 195 euros) a year for my "diesel" motorcar).

So how practical are electric cars?
The best-selling electric car in the UK seems to be the Nissan Leaf (although, to be fair, I did spot a pair of Teslas in a carpark in Southampton earlier in the year (Spring 2015)).
The Leaf has a renge of about 70 to 80 miles, depending on model - the earlier ones are quited at about 70 miles, while the later ones are quoted at just over 80 miles.
Given that we live about 46 miles from the centre of London (where the Leaf is exempt from paying the extra tax for pollution in the central area), that 80 mile range is a bit short ...

Some service areas on motorways (expressways/autobahns) have already got recharging points intalled for electric cars:

Electric charging pooint at Cullumpton Services, just off the M5, England

Seems there is more than one standard for charging connections too (I'm thinking VHS vs Beta all over again!), so the charging points have TWO sets of cables, one on either side. On the pump shown, the "Nissan" cable is on the right, looking in the direction I took the photo.
For that trip I suggested to central London, there is a pair of charging terminals at "London Gateway" services on the M1 (It used to be called "Scratchwood Services", but I'm guessing the image consultants thought they could make it sound more important!).
London Gateway services are about 33 miles from where we live, so, for safety, if we had a Leaf, we would have to stop on both the way to London, AND the way back ...
Not so practical, methinks.

So what about the owner of the Leaf shown at the top of this piece?
Turns out he drives about 25 miles each way a day, as he works in another town, and there is a carpark near his workplace where he puts it on charge while he is at work.
Even better, electric cars in that carpark don't have to pay the normal charge for parking either!
Win, Win.

And at home?

Electic vehicle charging point on the side of a house

Well, he has had a charging point installed on the wall of his house, so, in the evenings, he just plugs it in.

Electric cars, then, seem handy for some, but not so good for others.
If we bought one and wanted to visit my father (about a 250 mile trip each way), we'd have to stop at least 4 times each way on the journey - while, if driven carefully, our diesel car will get there and back without refuelling (and a bit further, too!).

And then we must ask ourselves if electic cars are actually the solution, or is it better to use cars (of all types) less.

we don't use our car much, instead making almost all of our jouneys on foot, by bicycle, or in our daughter's case, by bus.
Is this a better answer than us replacing our car with an electric one?

Our town has a rail system that connects us to London quite quickly and efficiently.
If the subsidies that are being used to promote electric car ownership were used to subsidise bus and rail travel instead, then we might not even need a car at all.
Certainly heavy subsidies for the public transport systems has caused a significant drop in motor traffic before (I'm old enough to remember the "Fare's Fair" policy adopted by London up until the mid-1980's, when it was cut on political grounds, rather than economic ones - actually, that whole tier of local government of London was abolished without a vote! All part of the "Thatcher" legacy that lead to her being the first leader in 350 years where some folks held street parties to rejoice at her eventual death (but, of course, by then, she had become an irrelevance) - the politist form of description of Thatcher would be to describe her as "devisive" - she wasn't voted out either - she was replaced in a political coup by the political party of which she was the leader, so even half "her side" hated her).
Anyway, enough of the political memoir - I only put it in as a historical note for folks under 30 that belive the rubbish the right-wing print media spout about it being unworkable - it worked 35 years ago (and, as a further aside, the trains got a lower subsidy under national ownership that they do now in a "privatised" rail system, and the tickets are STILL rather expensive. But, of course, now there are shareholders who want a "profit" - even though only onle line in the country genuinely breaks even, and that is the London to Cambridge route!)
There I go with another historucal footnote.

But as they say, those who fail to learn the lessons of the past are doomed to repeat them ...

Our town, Aylesbury, is well connected by train, and with the proposed EastWest rail link it will be even better.
But the trains are often a pricey way to travel, especially for two or more people who could share a car instaed!

Our town, Aylesbury, is pretty well connected by bus, too, but the tickets are not very cheap, and the routes tend to be long and circuitous - I can cycle the 25-ish miles (about 40km) from Aylesbury to Oxford in only a bit longer than the time the bus takes to get there!
And I'd save myself the price of the ticket too! (about 8 quid, 13 dollars, 11 euros)

But as I have mentioned before, the relatively high price of public transport means that many trips are cheaper for us by car, if they are unsuitable for walking or cycling, which would be our first two choices.

Electric vehicles have their place - commercial delivery vehicles, for example:

The "classic" British milk float - not many left now!
They will go maybe 20 ,ph (32 kph) flat out, but usually travel slower.

So that's by tuppence worth.
What do you think?

Should tax subsidies be given for electric car purchase/ownership, or should the money be used to subsidize public transport (buses and trains) instead?
Or should transport in general not be subsidized at all, and the money spent on something else (like Health, for example,), Or should it just be "given back" as a tax cut (which usually means the richest get the most back, but some folks would argue that they paid the most in the first place, and other folks would argue that they gain more from the system, so they should pay more)

What say you?
Electric cars and/or the subsuidies that go with them - Good or Bad

Good Choices and Bad Choices

The rear entrance to the British Museum -
still pretty imposing, with the stone lions and all!

Life has a lot of "real" choices in it.
Sometimes we would like to do the "right" thing, but it is just too expensive!

Last weekend, we (Anna, Katya, and myself) wanted to visit the British Museum in the centre of London.

So, given that we live (according to Google Street Maps) about 42 miles away, walking is out, and, to be honest, it is a bit far for us to cycle! I did cycle 100 miles in a day in the Summer, but that is the furthest I have ever been, and it took me all day! For the keen, however, Google estimates you CAN walk it in a bit more than 13 hours each way (!), and cycle it in 3 hours 35 each way, although I suspect that their "cyclist" gets up the climb to cross the Chilterns a lot faster than I do (!) With a stop for a rest and a break half-way, I guess I might be able to do it on my bike in 4 1/2 to 5 hours each way, but I don't think Anna and Katya could manage this distance yet. My bike, although cheap, still cost to build more than their two bikes put together, and their bikes are optimised for urban utility, rather than "audax"!

The "realistic" options for us were therefore car, train, or bus.

I didn't seriously explore the bus route, as, from here, it is rather a multi-stage journey.
I know there is a bus from Aylesbury to Watford, and there is a bus from Watford to Brent Cross (North-West London), and I have even used this Watford to Brent Cross bus route once, but then it would be at least one more bus into the centre - probably to Trafalgar Square. The Aylesbury to watford bus is not exactly quick, taking an hour or so for that route, as it stops in a lot of places on the way. Iirc, the expected jouney time is about an hour. The Watford to Brent Cross route also stops a lot, and takes about an hour. The last part of the route will probably also take that sort of time as well, as it is likely to have a lot of stops on the way into London. So we can say it is at least three hours for the bus "option", plus 30 minutes at our end to walk to the bus station and get tickets, with a bit of time to spare in case there is a queue. It is likely to be another 30 minutes at the other end to get from Trafalgar Square to the British Museum on foot, what with it being 14 years since I left London, and 20-odd years since I used to spend a lot of time in the central part!
So I estimate that the bus option would be about 4 hours EACH WAY.

Now the train option, which I explored in depth.
There is a train from Aylesbury to Marylebone Station in London, with 2 or 3 an hour. the trip takes a bit more than an hour.
Then we would have to get a "Tube"/Subway/Metro train to a station nearer to the Museum.
Never mind the routing that Google maps likes - for me, the best route would be to walk from Marylebone to Baker Street (not as far as it looks on the "Tube" map, which is schematic, rather than geographical!), then catch the "Tube" to Euston Square, then walk down and across, and into the rear entrance to the British Museum.
Google estimates that their routing would take between 1 hr 30 mins and 1 hr 48 mins. My routing probably takes the same sort of time.
Then there is the time from our house to the train station in Aylesbury - it is near the bus station, so I will add on 30 minutes for that.
So that is (rounded off)  a total of 2 - 2 1/4 hours by train each way.

Now the least "green" option.
What if we simply just drove?
Google Maps suggests a time of just over an hour - but, remember I used to live in London, and I know what the traffic is like (!). So I estimated about 1 hour 30 minutes for a drive (given that we usually drive at 10 - 15 mph or so BELOW the speed limit on major roads - that's us, just keeping up with the trucks, rather than screaming down the outside lane!) that would get us there for about 10 am (when the Museum opens), so we actually avoid the bulk of the traffic by being earlier. (remember, this was a weekend, not a weekday trip, so the "usual" 9 am "rush hour" doesn't apply!)

What then of cost?

Having ruled out walking, cycling, and bus, all on the grounds of journey time, that left car and train.
So how much is a ticket for 2 adults and a child to London from Aylesbury, including a permit to use the Tube (Subway/Metro) once we arrive in London?
Our train route is run by Chiltern Railways, and runs pretty reliable trains - all in all, it is a highly regarded train company. German-owned, if that means anything!
The "regular" weekend fare is £58 ($92.80), but as there are three of us, we can get a family group ticket for £45.90 ($73.44)

And driving?
Parking, if you get there early enough on a Sunday morning (before it all fills up!) is "free" in the streets arounf the Museum.
If you miss the surface parking spaces, there is an underground car park below a small-ish nearby shopping centre, where 4 to 24 hours (any day of the week) costs £19.30 ($30.88)
Central London has a "congestion charge"vehicle tax of £11.50 ($18.40) per day for casual visitors, but that only applies in the week, and in the day, not after 6pm in the evening, and not at all at the weekend,
The fuel cost varies depending on how much traffic you get, and how much inefficient start-stop driving you do.
Three is also the matter of how you calculate your costs - once you own a car (a big expenditure), the "marginal cost" of one extra trip isn't as much as the costs of the car divided by the total number of miles you do - most of those costs would still be similar (insurance, depreciation, parts and servicing, tax, safety test, etc. etc.). We actually average (our car has a fuel computer) a bit more than 60 mpg (Imperial gallon) that's circa 50 mpg (US gallon), and the route to London is fast dual carriageway (divided highway) then motorway (expressway), then major urban road to London Zoo, then minor roads in the park, then major urban road, then turn right, go down to blocks, and voila! Off-peak, we probably still manage about our average, as we are well above it on the fast sections at the start (I tend to drive at 55-60 mph, rather than the 70 mph speed limit on such roads).
Somewhere in the region of 20p per mile covers the "marginal cost" fuel and wear-and tear, and if we round up the mileage a bit to allow for any detours, and come to a figure of 100 miles (rather than Google Map's figure of about 85 miles), we still only get £20 ($32) for driving.

It is hard for public transport to compete with "free" parking

So, what did we do?

We drove.
It took us about 1 hour 15 minutes to get there, and about 2 hours to get back.
We parked "free" within 5 minutes walk of the rear of the Museum - we actually parked in Russell Square.

Russell Square is very close to the British Museum -
turn left for the "main" entrance, and turn right for the
"rear" entrance.

Had we made the journey on a weekday morning, we may well have taken the train.
But on a Sunday morning, the economics means that even for someone wanting to do the "right" thing, the car is a hard proposition to argue with!

What direction should transport policy take in YOUR town/city?

I am now a "moderator" on the "Car-Free Cities" community.

Why not share your views with my survey on "What one change would make folks cycle more and drive less?"

We all love cycling.

But what about taking it one stage further, and thinking about whether we should change the "Car-first" situation that exists in our towns and cities.

Does your town have a "pedestrianised" area?
How could it be made better?
Dou you use buses or trains much?

Do you prefer coffee shops to drive-thrus?

Why not share your ideas and experiences with me and a wider audience?

Go on and give us a try!

Update 23 Nov 2014
Another survey: What should YOUR local government concentrate on FIRST?
Are more cycle paths the best priority in your area?
Or would you prefer more trains, or better bus services, or something else?
Let us know over on Car-Free Cities

How does your town/city rate for non-car infrastructure?

Map from "OpenStreetMap", but the annotations are mine.
Blue = schools for under 11s ("primary"), Red = supermarkets, Black = train stations,
Green = bus stations, Purplr Line = Bourg Walk bridge

For those of you that want to know what it is like living in a compact town ... (there is a scale, bottom left). To put it in context, the urban area of Aylesbury shown on the map above has a population of in the region of 75000. (new housing is still going up, so the census number from 2011 is like to be on the low side!)
This is where I live - Aylesbury. I live near the big "x" on the north-east side of town.
The blue dots are schools for the under 11s (three are "special schools" for those who, due to learning disabilities etc. need lots of extra support - and tbh, I think one of the three I have marked is for the older kids - so that's two for the younger kids).
The red squares are the supermarkets - EVERY major British supermarket chain is represented in Aylesbury. There are, of course, local, smaller, food stores on top of that.

Gotta be copyright of Chiltern railways, but I'm sure they won't mind me sharing their route map.
the map is about 7 years old, and there is now a second railway station in Aylesbury that is not shown.
It is Aylebury Vale Parkway, which is just a bit further up the spur that leads to Aylesbury.

The two black marks are the two railway stations - both connect to London (Marylebone), which is VERY close to Baker Street and the Madam Tussaurds waxworks venue. There is an alternative route that connects (via a change) to Birminham, and thus, to the rest of the country's rail network.

Map copyright Arriva, showing the Places one can get to with
an "All Zones" pass.

The green square near one of the railway stations is the Bus Station.
The purple line near the Bus Station is the "Bourg Walk", the $12.8 million walking and cycling bridge that was built a few years ago as the centrepiece of the town's cycle program.