Last week, British Transport Secretary Philip Hammond surprised everyone when he announced the government’s intent to raise the highway speed limit to 80 mph (128 km) by 2013, in order to cut travelling times, reduce pollution and reflect today’s reality.
However, earlier this week, Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne had another surprise in store for UK motorists: while speaking on BBC’s Politics Show about the UK’s cut on carbon emissions, he said that the new 80 mph limit could apply only to electric vehicles!
Even though Huhne said that there are several European countries with higher speed limits and have a greener reputation than the UK, he suggested that the new limit could be variable (…) and only applied to EVs.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change spokesperson wouldn’t comment on the issue, noting that they would cooperate with the Department of Transport to ensure that “the environment and carbon impact of any change in the speed limit is fully understood”.
Now, given most EVs’ top speed and range, we suppose that this change would be irrelevant anyway: we can’t imagine anyone depleting all the battery’s charge in a short time to get his/her kicks accelerating to the incredible speed of… 80 mph.
Not even if he owned the NISMO Leaf racer pictured above, which has a top speed of 93 mph and a 20-minute range…
Story References: The Guardian
