News the other day that, two years ago, Glasgow City Council bought 200 electric cars for use by its staff. Commendably "progressive" you might think. Less impressive is the fact that they have not been used at all since purchase. It has not been possible, it seems, to have staff use them during the pandemic. The Times notes:
"A council spokesman [spokesperson, surely] insisted that the delay in getting the cars on the streets was due to the coronavirus and training was already in place to ensure staff were qualified to drive the fleet."
"training"? "qualified"? What's going on?
When we bought our electric VW eight years ago all the training we got was a five minute chat with the salesperson, and a drive round the estate. It wasn't exactly difficult, although there was a steering wheel to get used to, a brake pedal, an automatic shift, indicators and lights. We were schooled in regenerative braking, the charging process, given the manual [that's probably a "personual" in the West of Scotland] and sent on our way. I remember driving 25 miles home and hardly touching the brakes such was the joy of regenerative braking and the careful driving it encourages.
Let's hope that – come COP26 – the fleet is on the road, and that there are enough charging points ...
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