James Bond faces being forced to rely on his petrol-driven Aston Martin DB10 rather than his favoured brand’s latest hybrid supercar because of a lack of public power points, it has been warned in Parliament.
Westminster heard that, like many others, 007 had no off-street parking where he could plug in and there was currently a dearth of stations to charge up electric vehicles.
As such, the fictional licence to kill secret agent may in future hair-raising outings have to forgo the 200mph-plus Aston Martin Valhalla hybrid and hop back in the vehicle used in the last Bond film, Spectre.
After Prime Minister Boris Johnson last year brought forward the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans from 2040 to 2030, ministers have been pressed for a “serious acceleration” in the provision of charging facilities, so Bond and others can make the eco-friendly switch.
The call came as the House of Lords discussed the Government’s delayed Transport Decarbonisation Plan (TDP), which includes several consultations aimed at cutting transport pollution to help the UK reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
One measure includes banning the sale of diesel lorries in the UK from 2040.
Speaking in the upper chamber, Tory former minister Lord Herbert of South Downs said: “James Bond’s next car will be the Aston Martin Valhalla, a plug-in hybrid supercar.
“But since 007 has no off-street parking and there are so few charging points he might have no choice but to ask Q for his petrol engine DB10 back.”
He added: “Huge numbers of people can’t contemplate buying even a plug-in hybrid, let alone a fully electric car, even where they really want to because we don’t have anything like the necessary number of public charging points.
“With only eight and a half years to go before a ban on the sale of petrol and diesel new cars what plans does the Government have for a serious acceleration in delivery of the necessary charging infrastructure?”
Responding, transport minister Baroness Vere of Norbiton said: “The Government empathises with James Bond and indeed with all people, who do not have access to off-street parking.
“It is one of the challenges that we do face going forward.
“That is why the Government introduced the On-street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) and it available to all UK local authorities to provide public charge points for their residents.
“So far it has awarded funding to 120 different local authorities to install nearly 4,000 charge points.”
She added: “I’d also like to reassure him that the electric vehicle infrastructure strategy will be published later this year and I think that will provide more reassurance to James Bond and everyone else.”
