Friends of the Earth Birmingham Action Briefing Aug 98/Sep 98

Our Friends Electric?

Birmingham City Council have recently acquired two electrically propelled Peugeot 106 cars as part of their fleet. The vehicles are an experiment and were purchased with the aid of a grant from the Energy Savers Trust, set up to encourage businesses and local authorities to take up 'green' initiatives. The cars can travel up to 50 miles per day between overnight re-charging. Going for a promotional spin, City's Chief Executive, Michael Lyons drove one of the new vehicles from the Council House to Centenary Square for a press photo opportunity.

Whilst the Council's attempt to 'green up' its huge vehicle fleet is to be encouraged, one can't help but ask "Was your journey really necessary?" It is not known whether Mr Lyons car-shared during his journey, so his eligibility for a reward cake has yet to be determined. The Councils' press release quotes Mr Lyons as saying, "Many of the journeys which staff have to make by car in the course of their work are over relatively short distances, and it is here that electric cars can make an enormous saving on running costs". Given this one can't help also wondering if pedal cycles couldn't play a serious part in council transportation. This is not as far fetched as it sounds: phone company "One2One" has recently purchased a fleet of 16 bicycles for employees travelling the two miles between its main offices.

Richard Partridge