This week I've been test driving a Peugeot electric car for the JEC. It's the first electric car I've driven and it's been an unalloyed pleasure being behind the wheel. It's perfect for town traffic as when stuck in a queue you are neither wasting petrol nor creating air pollution; the silence is golden (there's a good radio too). I particularly like the gauge which shows you how the battery is getting charged as you decelerate, which encourages better driving, as you tend to allow the car to slow down that way rather than using the brakes. It's got plenty of power for accelerating out of difficulty, and its range seems ideal for island life. 'Filling up' at home is convenient, easy and, I guess, cheap. The silent running of the car does mean you have to watch out for pedestrians and cyclists, but I do that anyway, so it's not a problem. The only obstacle in the way of my putting in an order for one is the price, rumoured to be in the tens of thousands. But if this one is going begging at a knock down price after the trial, I would certainly be interested.
