Newsnight Scotland reports on electric cars.

Newsnight Scotland did a report last night on the new £2.6m investment in electric car charging points and I was going to update my previous blog post but the report deserved it's own post.

From the Newsnight report ( 13 mins into broadcast...available until the 13th Feb)

Keith Brown. Transport Minister.

"Seen driving the 'eye catching £80K Tesla' at Knockhill racetrack in Fife. This is an easy way of promoting the electric car"....."we're planning to be carbon zero by 2050 " said Mr Brown.

Didn't mention that the Tesla isn't on the approved list for the £5K subsidy on electric cars.

Didn't mention that carbon isn't the cause of 'global warming' and there's been no warming for nearly 20 years

Didn't mention that it's an EU driven programme with each country under a binding agreement to increase electric car charge points.

Didn't mention that it would take 26,000 years for our cars to be 'all electric carbon zero'. Whatever 'carbon zero' means.

John Curtis. 'Low Carbon Vehicle Ambassador' (sic).

"You can get a Mitsubishi iMiEV for only £13,000 to £14,000 'brand new from the showroom'

The cheapest iMiEV that I could source was £23990. This was the price with the £5k discount so the car would be nearly £29,000 in a free market.

Of course you would be able to buy a 'brand new from the showroom' Fiat Punto for about £3K if we were able to get a £5K discount as well.

Neil Greig. Institute of Advanced Motorists. (IAM)

"The cars are good for nipping up to the shops. Toyota has stopped making them. Public bodies should start buying them more."

You were doing well there Mr Greig until you mentioned our public bodies buying them more. They're already buying them and we have quite a few of them waddling around Dundee. There's even an electric ambulance somewhere. That will be for the electric car drivers who suffer from the new disorder called 'range anxiety' which afflicts people who never know when their electric car will run out of electric and conk out.

There will be grants available to fit 'free' charging points at your house. This will mean a house with a drive and a garage presumably. It looks like Lib Dem Transport Spokesman Tavish Scott was correct when he said it was just a green hobby for the middle classes. A spare car for them to run around in and look 'green'. Paid for by the rest of us.