Surely someone here realises that the only way to drive a car and have zero emission is with electricity powered by wind energy.

Dickie Bielenberg, london,

Chris,
Chevron owns the patents for NiMh and wont license them to be made big enough for totally electric cars. Batteries only use a small amount of the worldwide Nickel production, less than 6%. Not sure what a broken NiMh would do but fires caused by ruptured fuel tanks or fuel lines are one of the leading cause of death in car accidents. In the prius the battery is located above the rear axle, the safest place for a car component in an accident, its was designed with safety in mind and has a NCAP 5 rating. Recycling and new costs of batteries are dropping with mass manufacturing. Old lead-acid battery tech now has an almost 100% recycle rate.

Rob, London, UK

Anyone know exactly where the G-Wiz was tested? And exactly how much it cost? Email and phone numbers would be helpful.
Thanks

Leonard, Adelaide, Australia

A pre-emptve strike by the government against battery powered vehicles. Imagine the lost excise duty. If you think battery powered cars are all flaky take a look at the Chevy Volt which is heading for production!

Richard Tucker, Cotter, Ar

To the man ironically named Chris "Ford",
Three points
1 the greatest environmental threat we face today is as a direct result of carbon based emissions a great deal of which comes from cars.
2 Petrol and LPG are a much more explosive fuel source than Ni -Mh batteries.
3 Used Ni-Mh batteries are highly recyclable and the recycling is economically viable.

And one more point about the safety of the above mentioned quadricylce. These vehicles have been operating in London for a number of years and as yet there are no reported deaths involving these vehicles. The damage caused in a accident is a result of Kinetic energy which has a squared relationship to velocity. Thus a car traveling at 100km/hr has 4 times the kinetic energy than one traveling at 50 km/hr and one would expect four times the damage in an accident. The G-Wiz has a low top speed and is only really practical for inner city use. This may be one of the reasons that in a practical sense it has a unblemished safety record!

Brett East, Leichhardt,

Rob from London says that NiMh batteries are "withheld" by the manufacturers... What a load of garbage....

NiMh batteries are very polluting little things... The process of manufacture leaves heavy metal deposits and arsenic residues to clean up.. Then of course there is the recycling costs...... No such thing as a free lunch Rob!!!

We have these batteries made in China, Thailand and Taiwan.. Countries with minimal environmental laws... I'd like to see what happens to a NiMh battery that's been damaged in a collision.... Wanna reverse-crash-test a Prius to find out?? Betcha it bursts into flames....

Chris Ford, Adelaide, Australia

Let us have a balanced debate: Cyclists, bikers & pedestrians are maimed daily but their 'vehicles' are not required to pass car crash standards because (like quadricylces) they aren't cars.
If you want quadricylcles banned then go for all of them, not just those with electric drive-train: French roads are teaming with quadricyles. In the UK Microcar have been making internal combustion quadricycles since 1982, having registered 4600 in the UK since 2000. Other manufacturers' quadricyles have been on UK roads for decades. Some meet EU car safety standards & some don't. None are required to. All are safer than a bicycle, but I don't hear you clammering to ban me from using my bike, or crossing road on foot .
Leave the G-Wiz alone & thank its drivers who care more about the world than you do. If you have something against electric vehicles then you are simply ignorant: Educate yourselves, or else drive your tanks somewhere only your children have to breath the fumes

Pete Kohn, London,

Release the proven and powerful NiMh battery technology to alternative car manufacturers. This will allow them the overheads in price and weight to build in safety features. NiMh technology has been viable for almost 10 yrs but been withheld from market for short-sighted profit making. We are all suffering in the long-run, the higer safety risks posed by underpowered mini-cars, not to mention environmental and health damage.

I would agree with speculation that unamed lobbying has happened - does not safety regulation usually occur after an accident has occurred?

Rob, London, London

Lets be sensible - cars that are this unsafe should be banned, full stop, end of. It is one thing for users to think they are taking a calculated risk but if they are involved in a nasty accident and survive, the cost to the state is likely to be substantial. In a safer car the equivalent accident could result in nothing more than bent metal and hurt pride. Can you imagine what an impact losing your legs might have??

Mike Hill, London,

I suggest to all that are defending this car to purchase a copy of this months Green Top Gear magazine and see the article on this, as well as the accompanying pictures. The car deforms so badly that the occupants legs are trapped completely by the solid steel bar that goes across the front. Had the test dummy's legs not been made with solid steel inserts, I have no doubt that the legs would have been chopped completely off and the deformation of the car would have continued further. The steering wheel went almost 10cm into the dummy's abdomen - for reference, test dummies with instrumentation for measuring impact forces etc, dont measure there, becuase nothing ever ends up there in a car test.
I could go on, but I really would advise you just to go and buy, or borrow, a copy of this months Top Gear magazine, and see it for yourself.
As for those who say that they drive it around town at speeds of 20mph or so, you also need to consider any speed of the other car...

Adam Neilson, Airdrie, Scotland

Yes, Dickie electric cars low emission, Replacing a conventional cars with electric cars that charge up from power generated by coal fired power stations, reduce green house emmissions by 66%, With increased implementation of eco-friendly electrical power generation quite obviously emissions will be further reduced.

Brett East, Leichhardt, Australia

Dikie you are missing something. In addition you should note that the vehicle is only 400kg and accellerates slowly to a maximum of 45mph it just uses less energy! now do you get it?

paul, london,

Would you rather be hit by a G-Wiz, or a Landrover Defender?

Derek Bell-Morris, Perth, West Australia

If you ride a motorbike or cycle you have to wear a helmet and you'd be wise to wear protective clothing too. TopGear have crashed a GWiz (to NCAP standards) and the drivers head essentially hit the barrier they were throwing it at . If they continue to market it as a car, then either add safety + weight and loose whatever useful performance and range they have, or make people wear a crash helmet. Simple.

Also the owners of who say they drive in town and have never had an accident are exactly the sort of people who need their head examined. Its perfectly possible to have a serious unavoidable head on crash at low town speeds, I know, I've done it. (not my fault either before you ask).

Ben, London, UK

Low Emissions? Unless I'm missing something .... its the coal fired power stations that produce the electricity that powers the car. What low emissions?

Dickie Bielenberg, London, UK

A Formula 1 car weighs about the same as a G-Wiz. and can withstand high speed impacts. Why is it not possible to construct a vehicle weighing 500 kg and limited to 30 mph which would not deform significantly at a crash at that speed?

Barry, London,

I have driven a GWiz more than 2000 miles in central London over a year and rarely exceeded 20mph. Of course the car isn't as safe as a 4X4 but then it's all about risk tradeoffs, isn't it? How fascinating that politicians only get interested in this when sales reach a politically embarrassing critical mass. It's still a lot safer than riding a motorbike - try doing that into a wall at 35mph and see what's left. The "health and safety" argument always seems to be wheeled out whenever anything genuinely innovative looks like getting into the mainstream. Who's been lobbying the minister (who didn't care at all about this until just now)?

R, London,

They've never even had a serious injury in a G-Wiz in 3 years and 800 cars....You can hardly call that unsafe...they should just change the regulations to allow them to put more safety features in ...there's clearly a massive environmental benefit to be attained fro more people driving these sorts cars

arnold fisher, london, uk

and with a range of 40miles - and the average distance between junctions being, hm, 20 miles?, the chances of 'getting caught short' are high enough indeed to persuade all but the least thinking individuals not to take the thing onto a M-way!... besides, what sort of journey could be taken from home (charging station), onto a M-way, actually go somewhere, and return home again, all in the space of less than 40 miles???

Marco., bhm, uk

Ah well, back to Landrovers running on biodiesel.

Save the world's resources, build cars to last....

Peter, Marlborough,

g-wiz, please make these compulsory for all green freaks,
Hopefully, for every accident there will be 1or 2 less sanctimonious, and gullible idiots, trying to rule the majoriy of the populous who can see through the current claptrap.

david croucher, Malaga, Spain

Finally I know the price of a human life .... about the same price as one of these cars.

Miroj, Sydney, Australia

As a child I remember seeing a Mini pancaked under the front of a semi-trailer. Now 30 years later the road standards are back in decline.

Consider the guilt suffered by those causing injury to an owner of this toy as a cruel and unusual punishment for an avoidable mistake.

Whether the car runs on the flatulence of politicians or the sense of self-satisfaction generated by tree-huggers, where there is a human life at risk it must comply with all operational health regulations, even ones that do not apply to cars.

I am confident that this mistake can be ammended by articles of law dealing with machinery which is unfit for its application. Namely a powered device capable of transporting a passenger. One can hardly give too much concern to the driver.

Miroj, Sydney, Australia

How can it travel on M-ways when it can't go over 45mph? Crazy doesn't fully express the insanity of it. How can such an unsafe action - as taking one of those little boxes on the M-way - not be illegal?

Marco., bhm, uk

I have just bought a new Reva. I am sure it is not as safe as a 4x4 or other large vehicle. Hence you drive it differently - more slowly and with a greater degree of alertness. However it's range and speed means that it can only really be considered for town/local driving and should be tested in such conditions. Certainly not on unrestricted roads.

Francis Toye, London, United Kingdom

There is no minimum speed on the motorway, although there have apparently been convictions on the grounds of undue care and attention for drivers travelling at 50mph or below.

Compton, Birmingham, UK

Has anyone thought to crash this into a non-deformable barrier, similar in effect to hitting another car head on?

I have the feeling that if Top Gear get theirs mitts on one it'll end up worse off than the smart car test vehicle. Unless it's built like the proverbial brick outhouse!

Weight for weight, if a normal car hit this when stationary the mess would be quite something to see. 1 to 1.5T versus 0.4T, can't say I'd be up for the crash test dummy's job!

Chris, Exeter, Devon

I am a proud owner of a G-Wiz and have been for just under 2 years. The benefits to the environment and my pocket of owning this car are fantastic. Does it feel safe to drive? Not overly. But then neither is a bicycle or indeed a motorbike in central London. I had a choice between this or the Vectrix electric motorcycle and I chose the GWiz because it does offer slightly more protection than a bike.

Unless the EC is planning to regulate bikes off the road I suggest they leave the GWiz well-enough alone.

And, of course, if they provided subsidies to the makers of such cars they could improve the safety of them. Talking green on the one hand, acting red on the other.

Jeremy Gelber, London,

I have been in an accident in a GWIZ and it was the other car that suffered.
Very hard to go fast enough to hit anything at speed

daisyg, london,

I would love to add a comment here, but will have to wait until I stop laughing.

Steve, Lincoln, UK

Should absolutely not be allowed on Motorways - are you crazy?

cuffleyburgers, Lucca,