EcoVelocity: The UK’s First Green Motor Show

Published on Wednesday, 14 September 2011 10:58

	By Robin Whitlock Follow @RobinWhitlock66

This past week, Battersea Power Station was home to Ecovelocity, the UK's first low-carbon motor festival. Jeremy Clarkson was surprisingly absent from the event. However, Ask the Experts' senior Energy and Power reporter, Robin Whitlock, went along to see what all the fuss was about...

 

I have no desire to use the underground today so I walk to Battersea instead.

 I know exactly where it is, just head down to the river and walk along the embankment for a while. The power station’s chimney’s reach up into the sky marking the way. It takes about half an hour from Victoria Coach Station, at most.

This is the first year of Metro’s ‘Ecovelocity’ motor show which is sponsored by EDF Energy. I was somewhat pessimistic as I approached the venue, imagining a few squeaky clean, rather fake looking electric vehicles and diesel hybrids accompanied by some windswept stalls and not much else.

However, upon reaching the place and being handed a nice glossy programme, my expectations begin to rise, even if the site, viewed from the footbridge, looks rather small.

The first thing I do is to look for somewhere to grab a coffee and sit down so that I can write some notes and examine the programme. It is at that point that I notice more stalls and more exhibition space. The site is somewhat larger than I thought at first.

Just inside the first page is a nice glossy advert by Honda covered with pictures of corn cobs.

“Oh dear” I think to myself, “biofuels”.

On reading the text however I realise that Honda are referring to the use of corn to produce material for car seats. An interesting idea, the fabric must come from the leaf material or stem of the cob I imagine, which means there wouldn’t be a clash with food production.

As I read through the programme I notice that this is more than just a fad, the programme gives the impression that the motor industry is starting to take this seriously, pictures of hybrids, electrics and fuel-celled vehicles abound, together with a lot of impressive marketing blurb.

One thing that is obvious though is the lack of solar panels and wind turbines around, even though there are sound systems already blaring out and obviously a lot of electricity being used. That said, it’s also obvious that such an event could not be run on such renewable energy devices alone, due to intermittency problems, but nevertheless it might have at least helped them save on the power bills at the end of the day as well as reinforcing the point to visitors.

And it’s this last point that bothers me somewhat. To what extent is the show, and the industry, catering to motorists but merely applying a green varnish? My argument with motoring is that it really needs an attitude change and I question to what an extent that is possible in the age of the boorish Clarkson and his two merry elves.

With these thoughts in mind I realise it’s time to get up and have a look around and also actually talk to some of the exhibitors to see what they think. Almost immediately I spot the What Car stand. It’s very impressive, with some very nice machines standing outside, notably the Vauxhall Ampera.

The Vauxhall Ampera.

What Car's Matt Sanger is the man to talk to here.  I ask him what’s happening and whether the public are actually taking any notice of attempts to ‘green’ motoring.

“Well in the last few years, due to the economic crisis, people have realised that they need to save money” he tells me. “Manufacturers have embraced green motoring and so What Car magazine produces a down-to-earth guide. We’re very happy to support EcoVelocity, but the thing is of course, we like great cars as well as green cars. They have to look good.”

To some extent Matt’s focus on good looking cars seems to confirm my fears that all this is merely an exercise in pandering to petrol-heads, but Matt obviously knows what he’s talking about so I continue to listen.

“Green motoring is expensive” he continues “because of the new technology, but as it takes off the price will come down and so we are showing what is possible at this stage. Maybe in the future we’ll see more advances, such as lighter materials, composites for instance.”

This is better, but Matt’s next statement does the trick. “We would definitely recommend people to use cars less” he explains. Ah, this is more what I was hoping to hear, “but lots of people have to drive everyday”.

I conclude that Matt is someone who is obviously passionate about green motoring while remaining sensibly realistic. In essence he is saying that the industry is basically doing what it can within the confines of the society we live in. I personally think this is a very laudable stance to take, despite the fact that we’re running out of time in which to do something concrete about climate change.

The trouble is though environmentalists have tried ranting before and it hasn’t worked, at least not in isolation, so I don’t mention the time factor at this stage, although it does crop up in conversation with a visitor later on.

I shift the conversation on to my second concern – biofuels. “Lots of manufacturers think that it’s not necessary to use biofuels and that it’s better to make things more efficient” Matt responds.

This is heartening considering that I’ve just written an article on the dangers of palm oil for Energy & Environmental Management Magazine and also examined Jatropha in an earlier article for Ask The Experts, concluding on both occasions that biofuels are best avoided.

Next up is component recycling. As far as I’m aware the car industry has reached 74% recyclability with regards to components, so I’m pleasantly surprised to hear Matt’s estimate that the actual figure is even higher.

“Cars at the moment are very recyclable” he says, “in excess of 95% I would say [...] components can be recycled with only a few items going to landfill”.

I ask Matt more questions concerning outsourcing of emissions due to foreign manufacturing. He tells me that the UK is actually making as many cars within the country as it ever did, it’s just that the plants are foreign owned.

“So for example we have the Mini factory at Oxford, Honda in Swindon and Vauxhall at Ellesmere Port,” Matt says.

If this is true I’m pleased to hear at least that Monbiot’s concern about outsourcing of emissions abroad doesn’t seem to apply to UK motoring, another plus point.

So it’s looking okay so far. But which car should I buy if I want a green car?

“The greenest car at the moment is probably the Ampera” Matt recommends, guiding me to the revolving, elevated podium on which a nice white gleaming Vauxhall stands proudly. “It runs 176 miles to the gallon and at 40 grams per kilometre CO2 has the lowest rate of emissions.” (Great!) “In terms of damage to health from Nitrogen Oxide emissions (NOx), well there isn’t any, so on that score it’s spot on.” (Even better!) “At the moment it retails at £28,995” (Ah!) “because of the new tech, lots of R&D etc, but costs will come down as it becomes more popular.”

The Ampera runs for 40 miles before an onboard petrol motor kicks in to recharge the battery. Matt also points out the grey VW Golf standing nearby which he says is probably what people would choose in terms of increased efficiency.

The industry is heading in a direction in which there will be different green technologies available suited to different tastes Matt explains. That probably means a choice between electrics that are charged using street charging points, hybrids and fuel-cell vehicles. I wander over to the neighbouring KIA Motors stand to get a different perspective and quickly find that KIA have chosen to go down the route of improving efficiency.

“At the moment the KIA Rio is the cleanest diesel in the UK” a rep tells me – I am guessing that she means the KIA Rio 1.1 CRDi ‘Eco’ which emits 85 grams per kg emissions and runs 88 miles to the gallon.

This is not so good as the Ampera, but it’s in Tax Band A, which means that it doesn’t qualify for congestion charging, so it’s definitely heading in the right direction. The rep tells me that KIA are sticking with fossil fuels at the moment but try to build their cars with high specifications and good fuel consumption. “We are looking at other green options for the future” she assures me.

Alongside many other exhibitor stands by all the usual household names – Peugeot, Ford etc, there are smaller stands belonging to components companies with the odd solar PV company, a green motorcycles manufacturer and even a chap who designs artwork from redundant components.

I arrived at the show somewhat pessimistic, but I have to say I leave feeling rather inspired. I make a mental note to investigate further since it’s obvious I’ve missed something here. I would still prefer people to leave the car behind, but at least the industry is making an effort, and that’s got to be better than doing nothing at all.

Relevant Links

Ecovelocity

Vauxhall Ampera