I wonder why the UK doesn\'t setup a battery swap for EVs like Israel did.

wow this looks like it\'s going to be a stunning waste of money and a huge failure. no question it will be funded by tax payer backed loans.

They obviously expect to make money from people\'s impulse buying while their car charges.

This is a good idea - it\'s practical.
It\'s the networked access of and to power supplies.
Punch in your account number / swipe your card and in doing the shopping / eat at a diner, stop in a national park etc., for an hour or three....
Big top up.
Sure a pile of batteries IS good in a car, but so are smaller more energy dense batteries, with shorter range, in a lighter vehicle, with more chargers in more locations - for the longer commutes and occasional long distance trip.
Immensely practical.

Jeddy, don\'t be so pessimistic. While I share some of your reservations, this may be a positive private/public venture. Unlike the money sinkhole of rail transport, there will be fewer public employees involved and it will be much more flexible. Add to this they can tell Saudia Arabia to go screw. For all the negatives, I see many positives. Especially if battery and capacitor technology keeps progressing like it is.....

I might argue the point that it\'s the world\'s first, not by a couple years. On October 18, 2009, 8 Tesla Roadster drivers went to the Wild Horse Wind Farm in Washington State and charged their cars there. http://www.saxton.org/galleries/0910wildhorse/index.php

Love the bit about \"The Green Park top-up point is connected to the windmill side of the substation, so all the power for it genuinely comes straight from the Green Park windmill as it turns...\"
If the wind drops, get up the pole and turn it yourself, guys!!
(OK I understand that it\'s also attached to the grid!)

I am going to agree with Jeddy on this one. I think that electric vehicles are the future but I just don\'t think the future is today. As mobile electronics and other advances in energy storage occur, when the private sector can build an electric car and charging stations/methods that do not involve the public sector tax money, then the tech will be ready.

agulesin what you and the writer of the article do not seem to understand is this is not a windmill but a wind turbine, there is a difference.

Re dgate What difference? Wind pushing blades to tap wind energy to human use.