Events: Robert Llewellyn shares the joy of electric cars
Red Dwarf and Robot Wars’ Robert Llewellyn comes to town to fight the case for electric cars
You seem to have come to embody ‘technical curiosity’ – from your role as Kryten in Red Dwarf, through to your decade at the helm of Scrapheap Challenge. Have you always been a button-pusher or did you reject Mecano as a child?
“I was an obsessive Meccano user as a child. I got a second hand Meccano set when I was about 11, it was a ‘set 10’, the biggest Meccano set you could get, very old but in quite good condition. I still have some of it left but it’s a bit battered. I spent many hours making things I’d seen in the real world, beam engines, drag line diggers, six wheeled earth movers with steering, dune buggies… I eventually managed to make a three-speed gearbox and a steering assembly with independent suspension and drive shafts with universal joints, heady times.
In later life I owned a Morris Minor Van that sported many self installed modifications which meant it was always going wrong, however in my struggle to keep it on the road I learned a great deal of basic mechanical engineering. I think I lost all confidence in my mechanical ability while working on Scrapheap, meeting that many truly talented and knowledgeable engineers and mechanics constantly underlined my rank amateur status.”
You’re spear-heading an argument for electric cars. What first drew your attention to them?
“Without question the Prius, I had a lift in a very early model Prius back in 2001 while working in California. I was fascinated and wondered why Toyota had bothered to create it. Through that I learned about the California Air Resource Board (CARB) and the legislation they brought in to curb emissions in the LA area. Los Angeles really was catastrophic in the 1980s as regards airborne pollution, much of the new technology on modern hydrocarbon cars comes from that era, catalytic converters, lead free fuel, low emission vehicles, hybrids and electric cars were all spawned in the late ‘80s and early ’90s in California. I also had a ride in a T-Zero, the precursor to the Tesla Roadster which showed beyond argument that electric cars could go very fast.”
Do you think there might be a book on the horizon from you, bringing together all the information you’ve got on electric cars and delivered in your own inimitable style?
“I don’t have any specific plans in that direction at the moment but clearly doing these talks and seeing the interest there is in the subject, it’s not out of the question. I am making a podcast about electric vehicles and the topics they raise, as in ‘where does the electricity come from?’. It’s called Fully Charged and it’s worth a look.”
What do you think gets people into heated debates the most in pub discussions?
“I’m sure people can get heated about any topic. Atheism, that’s a good one if you want a ding dong. If, on social media platforms I mention such harmless topics as renewable energy, nuclear power, petrol engines or the distant possibility of electric cars being dominant, many people get very heated. I have been very surprised by the passion which many people – okay many men – defend the concept of the internal combustion engine. They worship its complexity, noise, passion and power. I totally understand that but firmly believe it’s time to move on. I’ve suggested that petrol engines are essentially steam engines with a bit of polish. They are Victorian technology with a trendy badge. That has resulted in much hostility including death threats on Twitter, okay from Texas, but all the same, steady cowboy.”
What was the last thing you changed your mind about following a heated debate?
“Every time I hear or take part in a discussion about nuclear power I change my mind. One day I hate it and think it’s absurd, short term and dangerous, the next day I think it may be the only viable option available to us. I change my mind about most things most of the time, however interestingly for the last three years since I’ve been driving electric cars, I haven’t changed my mind. As I say in my talk, electric cars won’t save the world, but they might be pointing in a direction we should take note of.”
Skeptics In The Pub, Caroline Of Brunswick, Tues 9 April, 8pm, £2
