Shining an electric light on Hampstead's future

Taking a winter break from eco-evangelism in the Swiss ski resort of Zermatt, I was struck by how this beautiful mountain village in the shadow of the Matterhorn might hold the electric car keys to Hampstead’s future. For Zermatt is a village without cars. Or, to be more precise, there are no fossil fuel-powered cars. The only motorised vehicles in Zermatt are electric and they can only be used by businesses and essential services. Even the police ride around in electric vans.

Not many people know this but the first ever cars, back in the nineteenth century, were in fact electric. In 1900, some 65 years after they were invented, electric cars outsold all other cars in the United States. They had a top speed of 20mph – exactly the speed I think Camden’s traffic should be limited to! Electric cars only disappeared in the early 20th century when cheap oil and better roads meant people could drive longer distances.

Zermatt’s electric vehicles were specially made by a Swiss company and can take up to eight people plus luggage. They may look a bit toy town, but the good burghers of Zermatt accept them because they produce no pollution and they make no noise. Year after year Zermatt has voted to keep the ban on private cars. They apparently understand that the best way to make their village attractive and safe is to take as much traffic as possible off its roads.

Some of you may remember my proposal for an electric car-train to tour Hampstead, South End Green, Belsize and Fitzjohn’s Avenue. Even better, in my opinion, would be to take all cars off the roads unless they are electric. This is, I think, the next frontier for Hampstead Village – how to make it virtually car-free.

Research shows that local shops – whatever their owners may think – obtain most of their trade from local people on foot or bike not from passing cars. So why not ban private cars, except for disabled and older residents, and make all deliveries and essential services using electric vehicles?

The internal combustion engine will anyway disappear as oil becomes ever more expensive. It briefly hit $147 a barrel last summer, but that was just a speculation-fuelled dress rehearsal for peak oil, the day when global oil production starts to fall. If demand then continues to rise, the price will go through the roof. I expect peak oil to come in the next 2-5 years. After that it will almost certainly become prohibitively expensive to run cars on petrol or diesel. But life after cheap oil is, I think, something to look forward to.

With fewer cars on our streets they would become safer for pedestrians and cyclists. The pavements could be made wider and greener. The air quality would be better and children would become less prone to asthma attacks. We would become fitter and experience better health in retirement. Hampstead would become more pleasant for residents and more attractive to visitors. In short, imagine recreating Zermatt in the “mountain” village of Hampstead!