Ex-Top Gear presenter Quentin Willson has hit out at Jeremy Clarkson and the BBC over “crap reporting” on electric cars.
It follows a feature on Inside Out London this week about electric vehicles and whether the capital city is ready for them.
Presenter Iwan Thomas joined motoring journalist Simon Rockman in the UK’s most popular electric car, the Nissan Leaf. The pair found it difficult to charge the car in London, as charging points were either out of service, in use, or obstructed by conventional non-electric cars.
The programme concluded that, although electric cars could be the answer to London’s pollution problems, they’ll never catch on unless the infrastructure is improved.
But Willson took to Twitter to say that the BBC needs to talk to long-term electric car owners, saying that “Top Gear dictates [an] editorial lead,” and the “damage done by crap BBC reporting to growth of EV industry [is] a scandal.”
He lashed out at previous Top Gear co-presenter Jeremy Clarkson, saying “Clarkson [and the] BBC effect could kill the EV industry and millions of jobs.”
Produced in Britain at Nissan’s Sunderland plant, over 56,000 Nissan Leafs were sold across Europe last year.
Willson added that “7 million Prius prove battery tech is reliable,” and the “BBC [is] anti EV because of Top Gear.”
He also answered criticisms that electric cars are too expensive, claiming that “used EVs [cost] less than £10,000 and save £1,000 in fuel per annum. Why [doesn’t the] BBC know this?”
Do you think electric cars are the future? Do you own one, and have you had any issues charging it? Let us know by commenting below.