Eighteen years ago, I picked up the keys to my first electric vehicle from former Mayor of London Ken Livingstone in Trafalgar Square. I was part of pilot scheme to trail this pioneering car for six months. But the first electric vehicles were around more than one hundred years ago, and an electric vehicle held the land-speed record until about 1900. Then the internal combustion engine kicked in and petrol and diesel have been the dominant source of road vehicle power every year since.
Now it is widely predicted that the tide is turning as the UK government has indicated that practically all new cars should be zero emissions by 2040. The car I picked up almost 20 years ago was quite different from the electric cars of today. It was a Ford Th!nk City, with a body made of polyurethane with a top speed of 56mph and a range of about 37 miles. Back then charging was a bit of a problem as there were next to no public charging points. Somehow, I managed to persuade a private car park off Pall Mall to put in a charge point which was actually a 13-Amp plug socket, but it worked nonetheless.
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