The Metropolitan Police Service in London (the Met) is testing a smart ed (electric drive), for routine police operations. Two of these zero-emission units will be deployed, one in Central London and the other at Heathrow Airport. The Met test belongs to a 100-vehicle smart ed test which is being conducted around Great Britain and some of the other sites have even made it to TV. The Met smart ed allows the Police to have police presence in very congested areas, thanks to its size. The smart ed has a top speed of 60 mph and has a range of up to 70 miles in between charges. It's estimated that the car achieves the equivalent of 300 mpg.

[Source: Smart UK]

In the same week that the British government is set to release a renewable energy strategy which will tout the benefits of increasing the usage of electric cars comes the news that the City of London is about to end its "free parking for electric cars" program. Apparently the feeling is that it has been successful and it is now possible to spot the odd electric vehicle (EV) on London streets. So what's the problem? The city is "...concerned that the free parking has encouraged car use instead of the use of public transport, walking and cycling and does not consider this to be desirable in the highly congested traffic conditions prevailing in the City." Um, okay. Now, you might not think that it's such a big deal until you learn how much it costs to park in London.Try around £7000 ($13,784.51) a year.You can almost buy a new G-Wiz i for that kind of quid!

NICE Car Company, which recently sang the praises of newly-elected Mayor Boris Johnson and his pro-electric stance, has called the rationale behind the decision "plain daft" as well as "barmy". In a press release discussing the issue, NICE co-founder Julian Wilford stated, "Car makers are moving mountains to bring electric models to market, but we have cars on sale now. Removing this incentive creates uncertainty at a time when consumers need clear, long-term signals on the benefits of clean, electric motoring. The City's approach is the worst kind of green wash." Hit the jump to read the notice received by current permit holders as well as the press release from NICE. Thanks to Simon P. for the tip!

[Sources: NICE / Autocar]

Remember all those back and forths in the fight between Porsche and the city of London over laws regarding dirty vehicles in the city? Turns out Porsche might have been on to something with their poll that found 75 percent of Londoners thought the £25 congestion charge was too high. Maybe.

Research conducted by New Car Net (through its website, with over 1,400 participants) found that motorists in Londoners were among the least likely in the UK to think about buying a vehicle that wasn't powered by something other than diesel or petrol. New Car Net asked potential car buyers this question: "When you buy a new car, would you consider an alternative fuel (ie. other than regular petrol or diesel)?" and found Londoners answered yes 65.5 percent of the time. While that's well over half, only one section of the country (NE England) had a lower response rate. While there are a lot of people who said they'd consider an alternative, only one in 140 actually bought such a vehicle (for example, a hybrid, or a biofuel- or LPG-powered vehicle) in the UK last year, New Car Net discovered. Let's remember that there simply aren't that many vehicles powered by say, batteries or - ha! - hydrogen fuel cells available these days. More details after the jump.

With pro-congestion charge London mayor Ken Livingstone on the way out, there are a lot of questions about what happens next regarding the city's vehicle laws. At least one company, NICE, thinks electric car sales will increase under incoming mayor Boris Johnson, who is against the C-charge. In this time of flux, the UK-based website Clean Green Cars is offering Johnson ideas on how to "help frame a revised Congestion Charge that will be both fairer to motorists and more effective in reducing overall pollution." CGC is against Livingstone's congestion charge plan and hopes that its more moderate plan will be the new standard in London. The highlights of the plan include:

• A stricter target of 110 g/km CO2 for cars qualifying for the lowest charge be applied
• Vehicles achieving 110g/km or below should be charged £4 rather than being allowed in for nothing
• Vehicles emitting more than over 225g/km should be charged £12 rather than £25

There are more details about this plan after the jump, but that 110 grams of CO₂ level catches our eye. With so many automakers able to bring out vehicles that just ducked under the old 120 level thanks to minor tweaks, pushing the target down a bit further is an interesting move. We'll see if Johnson likes what he reads.

Now that the city of London has voted out "red Ken" in favor of Conservative candidate Boris Johnson, it is expected that the congestion charge scheme may undergo some changes. One electric car company, NICE (No Internal Combustion Engine), is showing no fear and is sounding positive about the future with their new mayor. They are even predicting increased business in the coming year. Julian Wilford, co-founder of the London-based company, states, "We know that Boris recognises the many benefits of owning an electric car," in a press release that extends an invitation to the politician to give their shop a visit as well as discuss their upcoming plans. Perhaps they read his "colorful" opinion piece in the Telegraph in defense of that other London-centric electric car, the G-Wiz.

And what of those future plans? They plan on adding yet more models to their already-varied vehicle line-up which includes the Vectrix and Mega Multi Truck. For more a more detailed look into the future hit the jump for the press release.

The man who brought the congestion charge to London England has lost his bid for re-election as Mayor of England's capital. Ken Livingstone has always been a controversial figure in British politics but his tenure as mayor of London brought that controversy to new heights. In the course of his eight years at the helm, Livingstone introduced the congestion charge that requires drivers to pay a toll of £8 (about $16) per day to drive into a zone of central London. During the local elections held across much of England in recent days, Livingstone lost his bid for a third term to Conservative party MP Boris Johnson.

The congestion charge was originally pushed as a means of discouraging people from driving into the crowded central area of the city. However, recent studies have indicated that in spite of the fee, traffic has actually gotten worse in London. More recently, Livingstone has moved to expand the congestion zone and change the fee structure to make it based carbon dioxide emissions of the car. As a result cars that emit less than 120g/km of CO₂ would have been exempt from the charge while the thirstiest vehicles would have seen the fee rise to as much as £25 per day. Johnson, the new mayor is opposed to this emissions-based fee and promises to scrap the plan and possibly even rescind the expansion of the congestion zone that occurred in 2007. So it looks like while other cities will proceed with emissions based congestion charges, the city that pioneered the idea may be taking a step back.

[Source: Bloomberg]

Lots of Nissan electric car news today. Shortly after hearing that Nissan intends to be a global leader in affordable electric cars, news comes that the company is looking at a few cities to trial some of their new electric vehicle technology. One such city on the short-list is reportedly London. Carlos Ghosn says, "We have not yet got to the level of talking to the mayor's office. At this stage it is just a feasibility study, but London is definitely among the cities interested." London seems to be a rather obvious choice, considering the cities controversial new congestion charges which would offer zero-emission vehicles a big advantage over their gas or diesel-consuming cousins.

Let's recap the other recent news. Israel and Denmark want in on the electric car craze too. In fact, What Car reports that Israeli authorities have struck a deal with Nissan allowing the automaker exclusive rights to sell electric cars in Israel for a period of ten years. California is slated to be the first stop for an upcoming Nissan electric car in the U.S.

Interestingly, Nissan hopes to get 100 kilometers, or 62 miles, of range from a single battery pack, which could then be swapped out or recharged at an EV station -- sorta like an electrified version of today's gas stations and part of the Project Better Place idea. Ghosn says that Nissan is fully capable of offering an EV, sans battery, for the same cost of a normal gas-powered car. After the initial purchase, the cost of the battery and the amount of money spent keeping it charged will be less than the cost of gasoline. Ghosn also says that Nissan's electric cars will be sexy and attractive. That seems to cover all the bases rather well. Nissan, you've got our attention... we're waiting!

[Source: What Car]

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The Republic of Turkey was founded in 1923. If you think this has nothing to do with green cars, you're mostly right. Today, though, it does, if only because someone (or a group of someones) has hacked into the news section of Porsche's Judicial Review website and posted a few messages in Turkish stating that the site has been hacked. I don't read Turkish, so I'm not certain what the hack says, exactly, but it doesn't seem to be the only time 1923Turk has struck. Right off the top of my head, I can't see any reason for pro-Turkey hackers to take aim at the ongoing dispute between Porsche and Transport for London's congestion charge (Forgot what this is about? Check out our previous posts here and here), but what do I know about haxors and their targets?

Speaking about the Porsche fight, the company announced today the Borough of Kensington and Chelsea has applied to be an interested party in the judicial review against the £25 congestion charge. Read more after the break.

We don't want to take sides on London's Congestion Charge, but we are keenly interested in what the charge will mean for the environment and motorists. Ken Livingstone claims that the charge is intended to reduce congestion and CO₂ emissions while Porsche claims that the charges are unnecessarily high and unfair. New evidence that Porsche has located, though, indicates that CO₂ emissions will actually increase if the charges go into effect as planned. In fact, Porsche claims that the mayors office was aware of this report and chose not to release it.

The report, prepared for Transport for London by King's College London's Environmental Research Group, predicted that the charges would create a "very high disbenefit" not only for CO₂ but also for NOx, NO₂ and particulate matter. The reason cited for the increased emissions is that drivers will choose to drive around London instead of driving straight through, which would be a much shorter trip. London's emissions may drop, but the surrounding areas will be disproportionately hurt.

According to Andy Goss, Managing Director of Porsche Cars GB, "We always knew the environmental impact of this unfair tax would be minimal, now we know it will make matters worse. The Mayor and TfL need to explain why this report was not disclosed and why they want to increase taxes on motorists that will increase CO₂. It seems absolutely clear that the report shows that not only have Mayor Livingstone and TfL not presented all of the information to the public about the impact of his £25 charge, but that they have also created a new tax on motorists that will do the exact opposite of its stated goal." Read more of Porsche's response here.

[Source: Porsche]

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Lexus would like to remind drivers who frequent the city of London that the GS450h is a credible sports sedan which falls well below the maximum penalty which will be in effect as part of the upcoming Congestion Charge. Emitting 185g/km of CO₂ will allow for a daily charge of £8, as compared to the £25 maximum penalty which many performance and luxury vehicles will be subject to.

We're not going to dispute the facts as presented by Lexus, but we'll also stop well short of suggesting that the GS 450h is the eco-friendly choice (there are certainly other options). Still, its comparatively low emissions, along with its 35.8mpg in the combined cycle, give a possible reason to choose it over some of its rivals, if for none other than to save some extra cash.

After the break, Lexus provides a chart comparing the power, acceleration, CO₂ emissions, combined fuel economy and congestion charges of the BMW 540i, Jaguar XF and Audi A6 4.2 V8 FSI against its own GS450h. Very thoughtful of them, wouldn't you say?

Click in the image to enlarge

London's Congestion Charge has drawn ire from some manufacturers, but others are doing something to help alleviate the "financial burden" the charges place on their customers. According to Jim Tyrrell, Mitsubishi's Managing Director, "The vast majority of our customers run a 4x4 for a specific purpose – not simply as a fashion item. We have worked hard to reduce the emissions levels wherever we can to help minimize any negative financial impact on the thousands of businesses that have chosen to use our pick-ups."

In line with this statement, new Mitsubishi L200s equipped with a manual transmission and not fitted with the Rallitronic power upgrade will now come with a 225 g/km CO₂ emissions rating, placing them in a lower Congestion Charge band. Before the modifications to the L200, drivers would be forced to pay £25 per day for trips into London; now the charge will be £8 per day.

The TfL Congestion Charge on dual purpose double cab pick-ups will be effective starting October 6th, 2008 and will be retroactive, meaning that older pickups will face the same penalty as brand new ones.


[Source: Mitsubishi]

So much has been written already regarding London Mayor Ken Livingstone's new road tax that we never really spent too much time analyzing the plan itself. Fortunately, though, Clean Green Cars did it for us. EDIT: The Vehicle Excise Duty is different than the new congestion charge that Ken Livingstone is implementing. Sorry for the confusion, and thanks for the correction. As it stands, the road tax divides vehicles up into twelve "bands", separated by how much CO₂ they emit. All of that seems to make some sense at first, until the numbers are crunched to reveal that the bands are divided up rather oddly. For instance, the eleventh band, labeled "L," carries an increase of £120 over band "K", while the next step up the ladder carries only an increase of £25. Why aren't vehicles progressively punished based on their emissions?

If this data seems difficult to understand, take a look at the press release and accompanying press release pasted after the break. It may serve to clear things up a bit. Any thoughts regarding the makeup of these taxes are welcome in the comments.

UPDATE: Headline also changed.

London is one of the most noticeable battlegrounds in the fight for cleaner transportation. Headlined by the ongoing battle between Porsche and mayor Ken Livingstone, the fight also includes scuffles over motorcycles in bus lanes and new bicycle lanes. So, into this tempest, why not drop the oh-so-uncontroversial issue of hydrogen?

That's just whats happening thanks to a new agreement signed by Air Products and Transport for London. Air Products will build a hydrogen fueling station in central London that will supply hydrogen for a fleet of buses that will be in operation by 2010. The American company ISE will deliver ten hydrogen buses to TfL: five that use fuel cells and five that burn hydrogen in internal combustion engines.

[Source: Air Products via Domestic Fuel]

By now, you're surely aware of the efforts of London Mayor Ken Livingstone to increase London's congestion charge. You're also likely know about the distaste that Porsche feels regarding these changes. Back in late February, Porsche polled Londoners themselves and found that 74 percent of Londoners think that the new £25 congestion charge is too high. Hmm... Livingstone's got his own survey too, and he says, "This robust survey provides further clear evidence of the strong support from Londoners for these measures, with 61% behind the decision to charge £25 for gas-guzzlers. Moreover, 65% say that the overall policy is good for London." Who's right? Don't know, be we do konw that someone's wrong. Unless 74 and 61 make 100 in some sort of new math.

This ongoing debate seems far from over. We're sure that more numbers will be thrown around from both camps (and just about anybody else who has an opinion) which support their viewpoints. Round and round we go!

[Source: What Car]

Lately, London Mayor Ken Livingstone has seen a great deal of press coverage regarding his efforts to increase the congestion charges in London, which caused Porsche to vehemently disagree with said charges. This is not Livingstone's only legislative issue these days, though, as he is also opposed to allowing motorcyclists access to London's bus lanes. He claims that there is "only a very small safety benefit for motorcyclists [versus] a larger disbenefit for other vulnerable road users. On this basis I do not propose to further allow motorcyclists to use bus lanes. Those who have advocated rushing though a change have clearly acted prematurely and irresponsibly. Such changes could have endangered the lives of cyclists and pedestrians."

What evidence does he point to? Transport for London's Road Safety Unit ran something is called the "Tanner Test," and the results are what Livingstone consulted. There's a looming issue about the test, though, as Chris Hodder, government relations executive for the British Motorcyclists Federation, has alleged that Livingstone's report was purposely doctored in order to remove evidence that casualties actually decreased by 42 percent when cyclists were allowed in bus lanes.

Craig Carey-Clinch, policy director for the Motorcycle Industry Association, put his thoughts very plainly into words when he said, "By doctoring the results to suit both his and his advisors' personal opinions, Livingstone has condemned cyclists and motorcyclists to greater vulnerability in London's traffic." That sounds like a very serious allegation to us. We'll be sure to keep you informed if more information regarding this case becomes available.

[Source: Motorcycle News]