May 12, 2011 4.57 pm This story is over 153 months old

Why Top Gear’s electric cars were stuck in Lincoln

Stuck: A lack of electric car charging stations in Lincoln meant that Top Gear’s crew was stranded in the city.

Jeremy Clarkson and James May’s surprise visit to Lincoln was not accidental.

The two Top Gear presenters were testing two fully electric cars, a Nissan Leaf and a Peugeot iOn, when they reached the city and had to recharge.

Also see: More pictures and video of Top Gear’s Lincoln adventure

But Clarkson, in the Leaf, and May, in the iOn, were out of luck: they couldn’t find a spot to recharge their electric cars.

The two first went to Lincolnshire County Council offices on Newland Street to enquire about the closest electric car recharge point.

Lincoln has no dedicated public electric car recharging stations, so Clarkson and May were stuck in the city, as the Nissan Leaf ran out of juice.

Attempting to continue their journey, the two Top Gear presenters had to push the Leaf all the way to the Brayford campus of the University of Lincoln.

The marina electric plugs were not close enough, so the cars were left to recharge via a wired concoction at the Atrium building of the university.

Clarkson and May pushing the Nissan Leaf at the University of Lincoln

The Lincolnite asked the County Council why Top Gear’s electric cars were stuck in Lincoln, without being able to recharge easily.

Head of Transportation at Lincolnshire County Council, Chris Briggs, explained the lack of public electric car recharging stations.

“Electric cars are not a common sight in Lincolnshire at the moment, so having a widespread network of charging points is perhaps not the best use of taxpayers’ money.

“That said, we are looking at developing more sustainable forms of transport for the future, and are currently in the early stages of preparing a bid for government funding to help establish such eco-friendly projects.

“We have already received a number of ideas from other authorities and transport groups from across the county about what might be included in such a bid, and our progress will be discussed at the next meeting of the Highways, Transport and Technology Scrutiny Committee.”