Life

TV review: Petrol-head Guy Martin goes electric

Billy Foley

Billy Foley

Billy has almost 30 years’ experience in journalism after leaving DCU with a BAJ. He has worked at the Irish Independent, Evening Herald and Sunday Independent in Dublin, the Cork-based Evening Echo and the New Zealand Herald. He joined the Irish News in 2000, working as a reporter and then Deputy News Editor. He has been News Editor since 2007

Guy Martin attempts to break the quarter-mile drag record in a VW Beetle converted to electric
Guy Martin attempts to break the quarter-mile drag record in a VW Beetle converted to electric Guy Martin attempts to break the quarter-mile drag record in a VW Beetle converted to electric

Guy Martin: The World’s Fastest Electric Car, Channel 4

You know climate change has been mainstreamed when petrol-head hero Guy Martin is making a feature length television programme about electric cars.

Martin, the road racing biker and truck mechanic, has oil in his veins so was probably the perfect choice to run EVs through their paces.

As with all Martin’s television exploits, there was a speed record to be challenged and the centrepiece of the show was his attempt to complete the fastest quarter-mile drag race in a VW Beetle converted to electric.

Not sure this is what the general public will need from electric cars, but hey, we’re making television here.

Through taxation, planned prohibition of petrol and diesel cars at the end of the decade and a measure of environmental concern, electric vehicles have been on a steady rise in recent years after a slow start.

Plug-in and hybrid cars were just one per cent of the new car market in 2019 and are now somewhere short of 15 per cent.

Although, anecdotally, the latest figures may be closer to a quarter of new car sales, particularly in the company car market where there are additional tax advantages for drivers.

In-between bouts of testing the progress of the drag race Beetle, Martin took us on a tour of the EV world.

And of course, the number one topic – range anxiety – was tested.

Martin set off from his home in the north of England to drive to John O’Groats and back. The Hyundai car he was driving had a notional range of almost 300 miles but in motorway driving conditions it turned out to be around half that.

Then he ran into a world every internal combustion engine driver scoffs at.

He stared at his dashboard as the remaining miles of electricity ticked down and he scanned his sat nav for the next available charge point.

Some were broken, some didn’t work properly but he got there in the end, with just a little anxiety.

When he eventually found a swanky hyper-speed charger, it charged him (pounds money) almost what it would have cost to fill up with diesel.

But while range anxiety remains a problem, instant combustion is not, you’ll be happy to hear.

We got an elaborate demonstration of why the going on fire problems of some early battery cars have been solved.

Back to the speedy Beetle and the team had their laptops out to trick the Tesla engine into giving the engine more power.

Then it was off to the wind tunnel to make sure that the Beetle wouldn’t flip at speeds of more than 140mph.

Finally, glue (normal practice in drag racing it seems) was sprayed on the track and a tyre specialist brought to bring marginal gains to the car’s grip performance.

Martin and his team didn’t quite beat the record but the point was made - electrical cars are no longer like golf carts where nothing happens for a couple of seconds after you put your foot down.

And this it seems is the leitmotif of our transition away from fossil fuels.

There’ll be no return to pre-industrial revolution life as sought be some more extreme climate action campaigners.

Rather there’ll be government carrot (grants) and stick (taxation), technological innovation (Tesla) and a gradual convincing of the public that a new system (heating, transport, food production) can work while leaving carbon in the ground.

Electric cars are fantastic if you only take short journeys but the battery technology and charging infrastructure is not yet sufficient for long distance driving.

Asked if he was convinced, Martin said with a smile, “yes and no.”

It made for an entertaining 90 minutes of informative television though.