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There is one glaringly obvious answer to Bristol’s pollution crisis that doesn’t require hugely expensive public transport, doesn’t punish drivers and is even open to people who cannot - or will not – resort to pedal power.

Earlier this year, the government announced plans to ban new petrol and diesel cars by 2040, which will inevitably bring about the long-overdue electric car revolution.

Electric cars will take over the world.

Full disclosure - I drive a petrol car and I am equally responsible for the city’s air pollution problems as every other internal combustion engine-powered motorist on our streets.

Hypocrisy aside, our addiction to petrol and diesel has poisoned the air in cities like Bristol where 300 deaths every year can be attributed to pollution, according to Bristol City Council research. The burning of fossil fuels have resulted in Bristol residents enduring illegal levels of pollution, almost twice the limit they should be in some parts.

(Image: David Betts Photography)

While people are dying from our obsession with igniting the remnants of animals that lived millions of years ago, the electric car is a solution that would play a huge part in solving the environmental disaster we have caused and continue to fuel.

So why aren’t more people joining the electric revolution?

One person who is ahead of the curve is Michael Biggins, a software developer from Lawrence Weston.

The 30-year-old bought an ultra-sleek Tesla electric car around 18-months ago – one of the first of its kind to make it to the UK.

He told the Bristol Post: “We’re very much at a tipping point in terms of public perception.

“I think more and more people are getting used to the idea electric cars can travel a long way.

“There’s a lot of reasons I got my Tesla. I was originally in the market for a powerful car. That’s why I got it, because of the powerful aspect of it. The green aspect was an added benefit.”

Talking about the day-to-day life of owning an electric car, Mr Biggins said it was a simple case of re-setting your thinking about how you refuel.

(Image: David Betts Photography)

Instead of filling up at regular intervals, electric cars can be left charging while the owner goes about their daily business, at work, doing the weekly shop, or for the more fortunate on their driveways at home.

Mr Biggins said he weighed up the amount of money he spend each month on filling up his petrol car and decided he would spend that much on payments on his sporty new Tesla.

The price difference between refuelling a petrol car and recharging your electric car is phenomenal – a full charge for Mr Biggins’ Tesla costs just £1 a day, with a £10-a-year fee to use the charging points.

Other recharge spots are completely free of charge.

(Image: David Betts Photography)

He said: “It’s so ridiculously cheap. My car is plugged in at work and that will probably cost me £1 for the day.”

The car takes just 30 minutes to reach 80 per cent charge and another 30 minutes to reach full battery, which will carry you around 240 miles.

There are of course some pitfalls in the evolution of the electric car culture. Mr Biggins said there are a number of companies that provide charging points and each one has a different way of accessing them.

Another annoyance for the electric car driver is ICEing (internal combustion engine), where a petrol or diesel driver parks in an electric charging spot in a public car park, although Mr Biggins says some places are starting to clamp down on this.

(Image: David Betts Photography)

He added: “It’s definitely one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. It’s just more practical in many ways. When you’ve got a petrol car the only place you can fuel it up is a petrol station. You have to physically do it.

“One of the perks of the electric is it’s charging while you do other things. It’s just a different way of thinking.”

Bristol City Council is carrying out good work to improve electric car infrastructure, by vowing to provide 200 more public and business charging points in and around Bristol.

There are currently 120 publicly-accessible points run by the council – 60 in Bristol, with the rest in South Gloucestershire, North Somerset, and Bath and North East Somerset.

The authority is even replacing its own out of date diesel cars with an electric fleet.

Four charging hubs, like petrol stations for electric cars, will be built in by the council in Bristol and the surrounding areas.

Electric cars are still more expensive to buy, which is probably the most challenging barrier to overcome before they really hit their stride. The lower range is around £14,000 while more expensive models sell for in excess of £100,000.

(Image: David Betts Photography)

But the savings on running cost are staggering – imagine spending just £1 to top up your car enough to travel hundreds of miles in relative quiet and without contributing to the pollution epidemic.

Finally when even the most stubborn petrol-head is considering going green, the car manufacturers will see that the future is not refillable but rechargable - then prices will plummet fast.

We’ve all played a part in environmental destruction, whether we admit it to ourselves or not, but electric cars will inevitably become the norm as governments finally acknowledge the hour is late.

Let’s not let inevitability excuse complacency. Let’s set the standard in our city by helping to make petrol and diesel cars as extinct as the fossils that drive them.