Rise of 'Ken's' £7,000 battery-powered electric cars
One minute the quirky electric cars are as rare as a bobby on the beat.
Next minute they are as common as parking wardens - you'd swear there's one on every corner.
And in a stroll through highly-fashionable and well-heeled Mayfair in London the Daily Mail spotted all these G-Wiz electric cars - and more.
The reason for the boom is simple - these 'plug and play' cars are exempt from the London Mayor Ken Livingstone's controversial congestion charge of £8 a day - which he wants to increase from £8 a day to £10 - adding a whopping £25 levy for the most polluting 'gas-guzzlers.'
Costing from £6,999, these electric cars have a range of about 40 miles per charge - though you can knock-off 10 miles if you put on the heater in chilly weather.
Top speed is a pedestrian 42mph - but fast enough in 30mph and 20mph zones. But fuel efficiency is immense - and equivalent to between 200mpg and 600 miles to the gallon, depending on conditions.
Range is about 40 miles before the battery needs a re-charge. But there's another downside - they have all the excitement of a milk-float.
Trendy or planet-conscious owners include TV presenter Jonathan Ross and Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger.
It will also get you a free parking permit in Richmond on Thames where council chiefs are cracking down on 'Chelsea Tractor' 4X4s,
Charging your electric car overnight adds around 30p to your electricity bill, giving a fuel cost of under a penny a mile compared to around 15p for the average petrol car. But there are only two on-street chargers in Westminster.
So you need off-street parking to juice it up. And there is a sting in the tail - electric cars need new batteries every three years or so, at a cost of around £1,200.
And although they produce no pollutants themselves, electric cars aren't necessarily the greenest vehicles on the road. With normal power from the mains you'll create less carbon dioxide (CO2) the so-called 'greenhouse gas than with a regular car. But the emissions, though lower, are merely displaced to the power station.
