Elon is consultant to the UK government's efforts to accelerate the adoption of EV's.

[Benz]

This has been announced by Nick Clegg (UK's Deputy Prime Minister).

Here is a link:

http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2305624/clegg-appoints-elon-musk-to...

And here is another link:

http://insideevs.com/tesla-ceo-elon-musk-gets-appointed-to-position-of-e...

Well we know that the British have hired the right man for the right job.

Will this be good for Tesla Motors as well? Any ideas?

 

[Benz]

Here is one more interesting link: http://www.automotiveworld.com/news...backs-future-motoring-500-million-investment/

 

[stopcrazypp]

The UK certainly needs the help. UK plug-in sales are dismal despite incentives. I think it mainly has to do with them not having much private parking, so they really need lots of public stations before it's viable to own an EV.

 

[hileyms]

As someone who lives in the UK, I do not think the issue is lack of private parking as I do not think there is a lack (currently about 70% of people 'own' their own homes and apart from flats most homes have garages).
I think there are 2 problems, the 1st is the cost of the vehicles - until recently the cost of the Mitsubishi iMiEV was £35,000 ($56,000, 42,000 euro). Ok you can get £5k off that price with a government grant but still a lot of money for a small car. Price has now come down to $45,600 but it is a very small car.

The second problem is that we have had NO real sign from Government that they are pushing this. There is a big debate in the UK currently about the cost of electricity increasing due to incentives given to those of us who have solar pv (this includes me, 3.8kw system) being paid for by everyone who uses electricity. We get x pence per kw we produce and the cost of this is added to everyones bill. The £5k grant that electric cars receive is paid for by the government using our tax money. Costs have to come from somewhere and we have no clear sign of what the government wants to do or what people want.

The 1st thing that Elon will need to do is to get the Model S and X onto the list of cars that we can get the £5k grant on as unless it is on the list then no £5k. The BWM i3 is already on the list but not Tesla. The second thing for Elon is to get government to decide which pot the money comes from.

 

[Lokolo]

In the UK;

- 22.2 million dwellings

- 68% are owner occupied
- 15% are rented
- the rest are LA and HA

- 81% are houses, 19% are flats

- 90% of owner occupied are houses

- Approx. 55% of owner occupied properties have a garage, 25% have off street parking and 20% have either no parking or inadequate street parking.
- Approx. 25% of private rented have garages (I think it might be less than this but I can't tell from the graph)

So out of the 22 million dwellings, approximately 8.3million (22.2mil * 0.68 * 0.55) are owner occupied with a garage (37%)

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/6703/1750754.pdf

People can also put chargers outside of the garage, but unfortunately the data only shows "off street parking", not whether or not it is suitable for charging electric cars

The only other thing would be the size of garages. I live in a flat. I have a garage. The garage is both too small for any midsize+ car (I have a Mazda3 and it doesn't fit), and it does not have power supply to it, as it is in a separate block. So out of the 37% owner occupied with garages, how many would actually be able to have a car in there able to be charged? (although I suspect the amount that couldn't go by Tesla architecture is very small, it is bringing that 37% down even further).

I do also agree about cost. I can get a Mazda6, 2.2l Diesel Sport for £27k, compare that with the above Mitsubishi iMiEV. Which would you choose!?