Richard Bacon is a very highly regarded Norfolk MP, and naturally wants to 
do all he can to promote local businesses.
One of those is Lotus and its success is vital to the local workforce’s economy. So when Lotus offered to loan Richard a £33,000 brand new very sporty looking Lotus Europa S on a months trial, he was naturally delighted to accept.
My concern is the mixed messages this gives out, barely a day goes by without a news story in our national media about how we have to reduce our carbon emissions. So I naturally looked into the emissions emitted by this sleek dream machine and discovered it was 220 grammes per kilometre.
Comparing this figure against this carbon emissions table shows it is in the second highest category. It is quite plainly not the sort of car which David Cameron is urging his fellow MPs to drive. He wants emissions to be reduced to 100 grammes per kilometre in new cars by 2022.
Perhaps a weekend’s trial would have been sufficient and more in keeping with today’s green message. This would have given Richard time to appreciate the charms of this undoubtedly beautifully crafted car – though I have no idea which Norfolk roads he can use to test out its full performance, reaching 0-100 mph in 13.8 seconds, they are mostly winding lanes.
We have a choice to make Ellee. We can either allow ourselves to be taken in by the daily messages of doom coming from the GreenXtreme campaigners – messages based on selective science to suit their argument – or we can safeguard jobs.
We have a situation now where the three main political parties are taking money from left-leaning GreenXtremists. The parties are more than happy to dance to the green tune. If I honestly believed so-called enviromentalists had our best interests at heart I’d be on board. As it is, I believe their agenda is to damage industry in this country and global corporations worldwide. They may be sharply dressed these days and good with the rhetoric but they’re still anti-capitalist Glastonbury jugglers at heart. And if they get their way the Lotus workforce can kiss their jobs goodbye.
UK Daily Pundit, Yes, the future of Lotus and similar car companies concerns me too. Despite what is being said about carbon emissions, I don’t want every car on the road to be a hybrid, it would be terrible indeed if there was no glamour left on the roads, so it is a tricky one. Can glamour and reduced carbon emissions work together? Now there is a challenge, we will have to wait and see.
I’d love to have a lotus, and I consider myself ’soft green’. The fallacy of the freedom of the road in the ads extolling cars zooming across the mountains, when we all really spend our time chugging out fumes in 10mph traffic jams every morning. When any Government can give me a cheap public tram system integrated with the rail system in every city that I can use, and put pressure on the super markets to stop triple wrapping everything, I will believe that something is being done on the Green front, until then banning sports cars and 4×4’s is just the worst kind of tokenism.
I don’t drive [not because I'm green or anything but because I never got around to it.] Yet I can see the glamour of this car and how tempting the offer was. Maybe, as you say, a weekend loan of it would have been better. I’m concerned about the environment but I’m concerned about jobs, too and I don’t want everything to become grey and boring!
Cars like those from Lotus are not the biggest green issue. They may be 220g/km, but how many miles are driven by the average Lotus? In my experience, not very many. They’re mostly pleasure vehicles for some fun at the weekend.
Which is worse? Someone who works 5 miles from their home and drives a 220g/km Lotus, or someone who works 30 miles from their home and drives a 92g/km Prius? But we have a mechanism for this – fuel duty.
WL, Italy wouldn’t be the same without its stunning Ferraris or scooters, and I think those nippy little two wheelers chug out quite a few emissions too.
I guess those who want to add some glamour on the road with high emissions, or simply enjoy the thrill that goes hand in hand with a high performance car, will end up having to pay for their pleasure several times over.
Tim, To add to your point, our roads and speed limits in the UK are not designed for high peformance cars like this either, though it would be very pleasurable to have a weekend cruise in one, but maybe that defeats the object of a dream machine like this.
Mr Bacon is banging the drum for an employer in his constituency. Yes, he is sending out mixed messages but in the great scheme of things I wonder whether the emissions from a few Lotus cars are as bad as those from the plethora of budget airlines taking people to places which, a few years ago, they didn’t know they wanted to visit. These are both freedom of choice issues – which is the dirtier? Let us not forget, incidentally, Dave, who made great play of cycling to Westminster but was rather undone when it emerged that his papers were conveyed in a car following along behind.
I love glamourous super sports cars; there ought to be more of them. Instead of trying to phase them off so that everybody drives boring saloons, more work should be done on emission reduction for sports cars.
Owning a Lotus by the time I’m 40 is one of my personal goals. I would of course offset any of my emmissions through Climate Care. As I posted the other day, and talked about on Doughty Street, any green policies should incentivise environmental good activity, not penalise it.
Dizzy, How old are you now then? Are you likely to reach your goal?
I used to own an MG Midget which I wrote off twice (yes, the same one, though a tree crashed on to the soft top the second time during a storm and nearly killed me). I also passed my Advanced Motorist Test in it. I do admire beautifully sculptured machinery, so good luck with your goal, hope you make it.
Maybe Lotus should be making these cars. http://www.teslamotors.com/index.php?js_enabled=1
The Tesla Roadster acceleration is from zero to 60 mph in approximately four seconds and it also uses common parts from the Elise (e.g., the windshield surround, wiper system, and many safety systems including airbags, aspects of the brakes, front suspension, and the steering gear).
A friend of mine has a Lotus Elise (then again, he’s a city lawyer), and he is very much a ‘take it out for a spin once a month’ type driver. Still, he’s got a 3 month old baby now, so I expect he’ll have to switch to something ’sensible ‘ soon.
Ellee, I’m 31. Lotus Elise can be picked up releatively cheapely these days.
…We have a choice to make Ellee. We can either allow ourselves to be taken in by the daily messages of doom coming from the GreenXtreme campaigners – messages based on selective science to suit their argument – or we can safeguard jobs…
I think he had it right in this situation, Ellee.
They look nice but are very uncomfortable and noisy in my limited experience.
As for the government. They are trying htis, everyone must do their bit schtick like we are in the war again.
They shoudl start looking a little closer to home. Are we really going to take any notice of two jegs et al?
Life is always more complicated than is seen through the eyes of a green fanatic.
The Lotus Europa S will never be used as a city centre taxi, by a rep up and down the M6 every day, or by a commuter doing a few hundred miles per day.
It will be more usually bought by middle aged men with spare cash now that the kids have left home. They will put a couple of thousand miles on the clock per year using it on holiday, and sunny Sundays.
As such, most Europas will make a negligable impact on global warming.
But try telling that to an eco-facist.
“I naturally looked into the emissions emitted by this sleek dream machine and discovered it was 220 grammes per kilometre.”
The problem is Ellee, 220g per kilometre is hardly anything. If it is, will you start writing posts about the ‘evils’ of the kitchen dishwasher that releases a hefty 756g of CO2 in every cycle?
Even an hour on a petrol lawnmower releases over 1,000g of CO2 – should we be calling the gardeners of our land ‘climate criminals’ as well?
Sorry – forgot to post the evidence for those figures:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4561785.stm
Do you all understand how they rate just how “green” a vehicle is? It is not just what comes out of the exhaust. It is a combination of emmissions, fuel consumption, how much of the vehicle can be recycled,purchase cost, repair costs etc. Called “whole of life” costs…
Example:- An Astra ( Opel? in Britain??) costs about $20,000 aus. A toyota Hybrid (called a Prius) cost about $45,000.
The Toyota uses about 4 litres per100km and is very low in emmisions. The Opel about 7 litres per hundred & higher in emmisions.
BUT it takes say 6 months of a consumer working, ie using food, fuel, lights, power etc to purchase the Opel.. against 12 months to purchase the Toyota.
More of the Opel is recyclable (the toyota has a large battery pack which is a pollutant when disposed of)
So, in tests, the Opel is slightly ahead OVERALL of the Prius.
(This is a very simple model And just one of the ingredients).
However, I sell cars at auction for the government and IMAGE is critical in swaying popular opinion. Some of our government departments are using the Toyota product to demonstrate their desire for cleaner burning vehicles.
SO, even if the Lotus was not dirty, the image, plus all the other parts of the formula, are what matters…
If the arguement shifts to reduction in oil dependancey AND carbon, then Hybrids win hands down. We are going to see some amazing Hybrid. vehicles comming out of Japan and Europe. Then these will overtake conventional cars in the “dirty game”.
Just think…. no need for oil.. no need for Iraq/ middle east conflict etc etc so peace…is it posible??? gawd!
ps. All other comments eg Dishwasher/lawnmower etc are all valid too. Cut back on the use.
I do not use a motorised hedge trimmer, and only need to cut my lawn once a month (no rain)
Whilst you live in a green, water full country and relish in higher temperatures. I live in a country where i wash myself with the water saved from my shower (a bucket). We live in the Blue mountains of Sydney. We have natural spring water which feeds our tank supply. Its rate has reduced from 7 litres per second to fill tank. to now 1/2 litre a second. The bore is now closed 6 days out of every 7.
On New years day 2006 it was 54c in the shade where we were staying for holiday. The previous year was the hottest on record. This year will be hotter and drier.
I have never been a “greenie” in fact I used to drive 6litre V8 performance cars. Cars are HUGE image items here ( we have vast distances to cover) Yet I have asked my boss for a Hybrid.
If we all did that, things would turn around…
Simon is entirely right to point out that it is the overall energy consumption that has to be taken into acount. Moreover, hydrogen-burning cars are said to be “clean” because the emissions are only water vapour. True at the point of emission, but where does the hydrogen come from? Of course from the splitting of water performed electrochemically using electricity maybe generated by oil or coal-burning power stations far away, so the impact on the atrmosphere is similar.
uk daily pundit: I can only gasp at your self-centred and blinkered views! Orthodox scientists now agree that it is not a matter of “whether” but “when” and “how much”. Do you also believe that the whole of the world’s curent biodiversity has sprung from what Noah could cram into his Ark? I’m afraid the flat-earthers have had their day. This “live now, let the next generation pay” attitiude has got to stop!