Gordon Brown: Motorists should switch to electric cars and learn 'eco-driving'

Last Updated: 12:01am BST 08/07/2008

British motorists should exchange their petrol-driven cars for electric or hybrid vehicles and learn "eco-driving" techniques to cut CO2 emissions dramatically, according to Gordon Brown.

By 2020, the Prime Minister wants all new cars sold in Britain to be electric or hybrid vehicles producing less than 100 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre. At the moment, the worst gas-guzzlers produce up to 500 grams per kilometre.
From September, all new drivers will have to pass practical "green" driving tests as part of a Government push to improve fuel efficiency for cars by 60 per cent over the next decade.
By advising motorists on their choice of car and driving style, Mr Brown left himself open to accusations of interfering in yet another area of people's lives just days after his controversial comments urging Britons not to waste food.
He also risked the wrath of beleaguered drivers by suggesting that higher fuel and car tax prices may actually benefit motorists.
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Motoring organisations hit back by accusing Mr Brown of being narrow-minded in suggesting everyone should drive electric or hybrid cars, as many new diesel cars are actually more fuel-efficient than hybrids when driven on longer journeys.
Mr Brown, speaking at the G8 summit in Hokkaido, Japan, made it clear that he believes the shift to electric vehicles is essential in tackling climate change, and he is prepared to impose yet more tax on petrol cars to persuade people to give them up.
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He said: "The issue is can we move quickly towards the adoption of these new technologies? The general view is that we can move quickly. This is not the odd vehicle that would be a hybrid but vehicles that are family cars.
"The popularisation of this new technology in the same way as we moved from old diesel to low-sulphur diesel. These things are happening quickly and we want to incentivise them happening in Britain.
"I genuinely think that this new technology – hybrids and so on – [can be] adopted widely to the benefit of the ordinary family, to change the family car and make it far more energy efficient. And over time to make it cheaper to use energy.
"I think a combination of car licence [road tax] and petrol costs could – if we could develop the new technology – be to the benefit of car drivers. I see there being incentives to people to adopt hybrid cars. Cars that the ordinary family…can think of buying."
The Government is planning to increase road tax significantly for many popular family saloons from next year and the Prime Minister said he favoured taxing drivers of petrol cars at a higher level than their electric replacements. Sarah Brown, the Prime Minister's wife, was driven in a green car to promote the campaign to encourage their widespread use.
Mr Brown and other world leaders meeting at the G8 summit signed a new pledge to cut carbon dioxide emissions in half by 2050. To meet this target, the world leaders unveiled 25 recommendations to boost energy efficiency.
A spokesman for the AA said that Mr Brown's aim to have all new cars producing less than 100g/km of CO2 by 2020 was a "noble ambition" but was unrealistic, and pointed out that many manufacturers were achieving lower CO2 emissions with ultra-efficient diesel cars than with hybrid technology.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders pointed out that while electric and hybrid cars are suitable for short journeys in cities, their fuel consumption rockets on longer journeys, where diesel and petrol cars produce less pollution. "We would caution against specifying one particular technology as a way of reducing carbon," said a spokesman.
"Even the government's own report – the King review of low-carbon cars – states that 'different fuels suit different uses'."
And Nigel Humphries, of the Association of British Drivers, said Mr Brown was "talking nonsense" as electric and hybrid cars "are only any use in cities, where the government doesn't want us to use cars anyway".
The Government also announced that it would soon begin educating motorists on "eco-driving techniques", saving fuel by driving more smoothly rather than accelerating quickly and braking sharply. From September, new motorists will be tested on whether they can drive in an environmentally-friendly way.
Ministers have also pledged to implement a "fuel-efficiency tyre programme". According to a Government briefing note this will involve new "resistance standards" for tyres and "on-board tyre pressure monitors" in a further attempt to improve fuel efficiency. Under-inflated tyres can increase fuel consumption of cars by up to three per cent.
Other measures for cutting emissions will include new standards for electrical items to reduce energy use when they are on "standby" and attempts to increase home insulation.
The G8 leaders believe that global energy use could be cut by twenty per cent if the energy efficiency recommendations are introduced.
Mr Brown said: "If successfully implemented they would reduce emissions by an amount equivalent to the emissions that come from the US at the moment."
It emerged yesterday that Mr Brown is facing a potential Labour revolt over his climate change policy.
More than 80 MPs are said to be backing an amendment to the Government’s Climate Change Bill to make it more radical.
The Bill calls for a legally-enforceable 60 per cent cut in UK carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. The MPs say that should be raised to 80 percent.
The amendment Bill is not likely to be debated until after the summer recess, and the Tories may abstain, sparing Mr Brown a defeat.