What about offering to build farmers new open sided barns
that are in reality a solar roof on stilts / agricultural buildings avoid planning permission in most cases.Ideally the panels
would form the roof rather than tiles etc to bring down costs.

OK, Politicians are not ill-educated but they are ignorant. In my fairly broad experience, politicians, local government officials, film stars, media celebs, sportsmen, bureaucrats, – are pretty ignorant on the whole. Surely you must have noticed that?

It might be hurtful to say so, but the Modus Operandi for most of the young middle-class bods leaving University, is to gull money from the Government. Remember, 80% of the Government’s tax income comes from hourly-paid workers and the companies they work for. Some, like yourself, use their educational and social advantages to create useful businesses, employ people and generally contribute to the economy but on the whole, the young educated middle-class use their talents to get money from the Government in order to do whatever they want to do.

If I’m wrong, answer me this: If a skilled tradesman has to borrow money from a bank to do something worthwhile, like setting up a small manufacturing business, how come the educated classes simply use their skills to get their money from the Government, buckshee? Mr Sciville, writing on this blog, did rather well in the RAC FCC last year and it didn’t cost the taxpayer a penny. That’s because he’s one of the skilled tradesman I’m talking about.

It is merely a matter of opinion whether or not Gordon Murry’s new car is any good. I personally don’t think it has a market and it was only conceived in order to qualify for hefty government support. Maybe some company might come along and buy the rights to make it, in which can, I’ll be shown to be the sneering nutter you suggest. Until then, I think it is fair to criticise the £4.2 million pounds the Project cost.

Certainly, £500k isn’t enough to put a car like yours into production but that wasn’t your brief. Yours was a prototype; a one-off. Half a million pounds is more than enough to produce a prototype. The question is, what was it a prototype of? Or was it, (be honest now!), just something you wanted to do and because you had the right social positioning, you got someone else pay for most of it?

In my own defense, I was steered away from the TSB by several Venture Capitalists. When I showed them my engines, (the VCs that is) they looked at tme and the technology very carefully and decided to invest. If the engines turn out to be duds or un-commercial, I’ll have to pay them back. The Government simply isn’t interested in this end of the market.

Essentially, the TSB, the Research Council and other funding bodies exists to funnel money into industry by the back door in order to side-step the European restrictions regarding subsidies to industry. It is virtually impossible for small businesses to get funding from the Government unless they are collaborating with the established OEMs. To this extent, politicians DO preside over the grant-making process.

Best wishes

I didn’t say I thought you wished to build a car like the Nemesis, nor did I think it.

Politicians are rarely ill educated. And they do not preside over the grant making process.

We have not ‘gulled’ money from the government for our project – that’s perhaps your naffest comment. And the Nemesis did not dissipate our energies, it actually started us on a path, that has led to more. Such as the Electric Highway.

It’s been said before, on here and elsewhere, by others – that we should have spent our time and money on a more everyday car, it’s a reasonable point – usually reasonably made, except in your case where it’s made with spite and malice.

I disagree with it in any event.

I think Gordon Murray did exceptionally well to engineer a new car (the one you sneer at) on the budget he had.

The budget we had, with 4 to 500k from the TSB – was nowhere near enough to engineer a new mass market car – it’s silly to even think that. It was enough to produce a high performance technology demonstrator – which we did.

Reading your posts – I think you’re probably bitter that TSB won’t fund your new engine project, or whatever it is – but look on the bright side – TSB funding would have made you a target for bitter nutters to attack….

Cheers.

It’s true; I would like to build a sports car like the Nemesis – I can’t deny it. It’s a nice looking car. My problem is that entrepreneurs very often dissipate their resources simply to gull money from ill-educated politicians who are dazzled by people like you, Gordon Murry and many others. Entrepreneurs should be getting down to making things that people want and are prepared to buy.

I know this goal is very difficult to achieve but people who posses this ability to make things have a moral obligation to make things that people want – not just produce stuff at the public’s expense just because it’s easy money, especially as they know the idea is technically and commercially flawed. I admit, not being able to dazzle people into give me money is probably another reason for feeling bitter and inadequate but most of your readers would agree with what I am saying.

For instance, I could probably get funding to develop a patented fuel tank for commercial vehicles which saved valuable down-time by being able to be filled with fuel in 20 seconds. Oh yes, the funding agencies would be delighted with my beautifully made prototype models and computer generated images but in reality, I know that to put 100 litres into a fuel tank in 20 seconds would require a fuel-pump the size of a shed and and nozzle that no-one could lift.

A stupid idea you may think, but a company is, in fact, being funded to research and develop hybrid car batteries which can be ‘filled’ at a charging-point in in twenty minutes. Oh Yea! – what would the two-megawatt plug-in plug and its cable look like? Right – like a shed and also too big to lift.

My grievance is against Government funding agencies, particularly the TSB. These people give money to totally spurious R&D projects which has the effect of directing SMEs away from producing commercial products and towards damn-fool projects which lead nowhere. Some call it a conspiracy to keep SMEs from competing with the big-boys.

FYI, we are not making a home-made car for the RAC FCC. It’s all in the new engine. Any re-engined car will do.

Best wishes

Justin Gudgeon

The Nemesis was conceived of, as an idea, four years or so ago, before it was possible to buy an electric car for the road (except perhaps the G Whiz). Our aim was to build a car that used the latest technology, looked awesome and performed better than (not just as well as or close to) the equivalent IC car. It’s mission was to impress and through that challenge the prevailing notions of electric cars, and challenge the petrol heads among us.

It’s quite normal, IMO, for technology to be demonstrated on high performance vehicles and subsequently find it’s way to more every day vehicles – it’s a well trodden path.

The building of an everyday car for mass adoption is not something we (ecotricity) are best placed to undertake – nor do we need to, all the major motor manufacturers are entering the game now.

What we were well placed to do was to build an early technology demonstrator, to stimulate debate, open eyes and wins some hearts and minds. To do that we needed a bit of a supercar (in our opinion). So that’s what we built.

I note your post slags us off for building our supercar and also slags off Gordon M for building his everyday car – can anyone win in your eyes…?

I hope your home made car works well for you in the Rally and I hope you grow up somewhat.

Cheers.

FYI I’ve put you in moderation mode – which means that your comments need to be approved by me before being published. Please refer to the blog posting guidelines.

Thanks for the description of your engine. It sounds a very interesting concept and I look forward to seeing it.

Personally though I see the electric drive as being the ideal as electric motors are unbeatable for pushing cars down the road. No clutches, gears or servicing required but loads of starting torque.
The only drawback being the electricity source.

I wonder how economical your engine would be tied to an alternator and running at a pre-set rpm which would normally improve efficiency rather than a constantly varying load/rpm.

Whilst not very happy using an oil burner, in the short to medium term the very high concentration of energy in oil does allow for conventional driving with electric hybrids.

I am glad you understand the principle of manufacturing stuff which people actually want, rather than stuff that simply attracts public funding – like wind turbines or micro cars designed for Noddy and Big Ears.

You did well to come 5th last year in your Lotus S1. You picked a low-mass car to electrify and thus benefited from Newton’s First Law. The Lotus, as an EV, is a desirable And marketable car and rightly received ‘Best overall private entry’.

Our aim is to replace the engine of a popular 5-door, (the biggest sector in the auto market) and win by using the least amount of fuel. Our small diesel engine doesn’t have a radiator and runs at 250 degrees C. using high-temp oil as the coolant. The retained heat is converted into electro/mechanical energy.

As with rally driving, the ‘fun’ is in taking an ordinary production car and making it do something extraordinary.

Best wishes

Justin Gudgeon

As a past entrant and twice winner of “best private entry” in the Future Car Challenge, I and many others will be very interested to see your car with its extremely efficient engine.

The problem with changing people’s perception of electric/low energy cars is not to bring out boring!!!
My car cost under £20,000 to develop and put on the road using existing technology, some dating back to the 1990′s.
It also came 5th out of 50 cars listed in order of energy usage.
And has been on the road daily for more than three years.
How multiple millions of public money can be spent on odd looking”research projects” for geeks beggars belief.

Having watched Dale’s video about his car being developed, it is easy to see where his money went when using consultants.
At least it was spent in this country.

So Justin, I really hope your car will be built for fun and not another low powered milk float copy.

For instance, it is significant that the car developed by you, (Dale Vince) for the RAC FCC was a massively powerful sports car representing macho prowess and unrestrained self-indulgence. The Nemesis, costing £800,000 is neither efficient environmentally friendly but it does have sex-appeal. Unfortunately, this is what I believe Ecotricity is all about; pride.

If Ecotricity was the real deal, you would swallow your pride and dedicate your time and money to developing a car which people want and can afford. A car which uses fewer resources and runs on less fuel and produces less CO2 than any other car on the road. This shouldn’t be too difficult for a millionaire.

Gordon Murry produced a winning product for last years RAC FCC but that can also be dismissed as an expensive joke. Costing over £4.2m to develop, (of which the taxpayer paid £2.1m), all the consortia managed to produce was a stupid little car which no-one, apart a few nerds, want. Remember the Reliant Robin?

So here is a challenge for you, Mr Vince: My company, which is motivated by an ideology of thrift, not superstition or self promotion, is entering this year’s RAC FCC with a hybrid saloon. The patented engine, which we have developed over the last three years, converts 70% of the fuel it burns to mechanical energy. We have not taken a penny from the tax-payer and in particular, not the TSB since it only funds companies which don’t represent a threat to the large OEMs.

Against this, Ecotricity, with all its ideology and resources, should be able to beat us; all you need is to ignore the hype and get to work on a vehicle which is consistent with your ideology, ie, modest, environmentally friendly and practical. If you are unable to do this, my accusation of insincerity is proved.

I was wondering if you accept guest post for your blog. If you do, I would like to submit a few. I’m a recent college graduate, with an English major, looking to build out my portfolio. I can write on a wide variety of topics and am sure you would be happy with the quality. Please email me back if you are interested. Thank you for your time.

- Kathleen Hubert
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002374243662

It’s been a while since we last chatted on here!

The simple issue, it seems, is that you do not wish to pay for the electricity you have used. Your claims of being a victim of some bad practice or other are all false – we’ve bent over backwards to accommodate you, yet you’ve been unwilling to pay the £20 a month we agreed with you and set up three years ago.

You clearly want us to forget the bill but we’re not going to. It’s silly to say our customer services are not open to you (and utterly untrue) – we’re all still here willing to make arrangements to enable you to pay – we’re not willing to let you avoid paying – that would be unfair on all of our other customers, who do pay their bills.

Please call us on 0845 555 7 100 or email home@ecotricity.co.uk rather than posting on here. This is not a customer service platform & you may not get the level of response you would get through our dedicated channels.

Thanks
Paul – Online Community Manager, Ecotricity.

From on poor hippy to a rich one

And I also love the fact that Mr. Vince’s primary business venture is green energy. If I were a millionaire, I would invest in both Ecotricity and Forest Green Rovers and try to help both become more successful. If I lived in the UK, I’m sure I would at least be a customer.

Good luck in both ventures!
Cheers.

What a good definition Paul.

I often feel depressed by the seemingly insatiable greed of people at the top of the social tree, pity they can’t take a more socially enterprising approach. Indirecty it is the voiceless people at the bottom, – poor education, poor diet, poor housing-, who pay the price for the greed of the fat cats.

To me Mr. Vince financially salvaging a football club in the heart of a low cost housing area, which brings a whole host of benefits across the board to the local community is a very worthwhile social venture, and must be lauded.

The best of luck to Mr. Vince, Forest Green Rovers, Ecotricity, and whatever other businesses or social organisations he is involved in.

M. Omnes

How about this:

“A social enterprise is a business with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or in the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for shareholders and owners.”

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/layer?topicId=1077475650

Could you define ‘social enterprise’? I’ve looked on your web site and your firms web site and I can’t see anything about what this means.

People might think you’re implying some kind of community involvement or perhaps local people on the board, but i can’t see anything other than you spent a lot of money buying a football team.

Any infomation on the social aspects of your enterprise and how community views are taken into account (and maybe your definition of ‘social’) would be welcome.

Trevor

Kirsty x

Prepping the car shortly.

Cheers.

There are no ordinary people IMO. Red Meat though, that is disgusting.

What’s your Beef?

Cheers.

I’ll try and update on the car soon. We’re preparing for a land speed record attempt now….

Thanks for the support Russ….

if so, please take your blinkers off and try again.

And, most people disgust, or dislike, another because that other has somthing you dont. It’s envy 9 times out of 10