Electric cars

Electric car challenge - Arrival in Edinburgh
An electric car is a plug-in battery powered automobile which is propelled by electric motor.
Electric cars have the potential of significantly reducing city pollution by having zero tail pipe emissions.
Vehicle greenhouse gas savings depend on how the electricity is generated.
With the current U.S. energy mix, using an electric car would result in a 30% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.
Given the current energy mixes in other countries, it has been predicted that such emissions would decrease by 40% in the UK,19% in China,and as little as 1% in Germany.
Running costs and Maintenance
Most of the running cost of an electric vehicle can be attributed to the maintenance and replacement of the battery pack because an electric vehicle has only around 5 moving parts in its engine, compared to a gasoline car that has hundreds of parts in its internal combustion engine.
Electric cars have expensive batteries that must be replaced but otherwise incur very low maintenance costs, particularly in the case of current Lithium based designs.

There are hopes that the electric car will capture the imagination of British cyclist this year.
The BBC's Brian Milligan took up a challenge to drive from London to Edinburgh in an electronics car.
It might sound easy but under the rules, he was only allowed to charge the car's battery at public points.
Brian takes a look back over the four days it took to complete the journey.