Tag Archives: Electric

Is it Beyonce or the Flying Scotsman?

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Cycling home last night I saw a bunch of amateur paparazzi standing by the road, cameras poised. I stopped and asked “Who’s coming? Is it Beyonce?”. A lady pointed to the train line on the bridge and said “No – the Flying Scotsman is due here in about 2 mins”.

Well, that seemed well worth waiting for so I spent a few minutes chatting to the very friendly train spotters. As it came past, I grabbed a quick video of it zipping through to the right, then eclipsed by a modern electric zipping through to the left. Impressive speed, but smaller than I imagined.

Coincidentally or not, on the radio this morning (Today program on R4) I heard a spokesman talking about trying to re-introduce steam into the current rail network. An interesting idea, but hard to see how it could easily be achieved without burning fossil fuels, so on the opposite path to a more more renewable based electric society.

A Mother’s Tale of Electric Cars

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I love my electric car! It’s nippy and smooth to drive, all at the same time. Somehow it seems to glide effortlessly along and I can weave in and out of traffic very easily. I use it for all my local errands – family shop, trips to the gym, plus the never-ending Mum-taxi drop offs and pick ups……At night, I plug it in when I finally get home and it is fully charged the next day, ready to go.

Nissan Leaf – a Perfect Family Car

I rarely use up more more than 30% of the battery going about my usual day, so I don’t really have any concerns about the battery life. It took a little getting used to on longer journeys into London – I learned to drive just a little bit slower to conserve the battery – although when we get our new Nissan Leaf next week, it will have a longer range and I can then really put my foot down?. The free congestion charge and almost free parking in Westminster always make up for the extra 5 minutes in the car!

Most of all, I enjoy the engine quietness and the ‘smug value’ that comes from knowing that I am doing the right thing for my children by not adding more polluting emissions to the earth’s atmosphere. On top of that, it makes financial sense – a new car (let me say that again, a new car – I have NEVER had a new car before!) for just a little more per month than we previously paid for fuel. It’s a no-brainer for me.