Boris Johnson: electric car reverse

Autocar's Hilton Holloway:

The news that BMW has won the bid to become to official vehicle supplier to the 2012 London Olympics is a serious disappointment. Not because there's likely to be much wrong with the next-generation 1-series and 3-series, but because the Blue Propeller has succeeded in crowding out a much more innovative rival.

Nissan was one of the 2012 bidders, promising to supply a fleet of 4000 vehicles, at least 2000 of which would have been the Nissan LEAF electric hatch. Had Nissan won, French electricity supplier EDF would have helped install charging points through the capital. The upshot would have been a huge boost for electric car infrastructure in the capital – a city with some of the worst diesel-fired pollution in Europe.

A disappointment but not a Locog U-turn, according to another Autocar piece:

London's 2012 Olympic organising team have claimed it was never their intention for electric cars to appear at the games on a large scale. London 2012 had widely been expected to be a launch pad for the capital to create an electric infrastructure and a lasting legacy for electric cars, encouraging their uptake and getting them on the road in large volumes.

But Paul Deighton, chief executive of London's organising committee, said time was against the capital if it wanted to create an electric network in time for the games. "We didn't want a big fleet of electric vehicles," Deighton told Autocar. "We're only just over two years or so away from the games and time is running out to create a viable network."

If I were Mayor Johnson I'd be concerned to read that Locog has never intended the Olympic fleet to contain lots of electric vehicles. As recently as May Boris was hoping it would add high profile momentum to his Electric Vehicles Delivery Plan:

The eyes of the world will be on London during the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (Locog) is responsible for procuring the fleet of several thousand vehicles. One of the key ways to demonstrate our commitment to the "greenest games ever" is for a substantial proportion of the Olympic fleet to be comprised of EVs. We will work with and support the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games Olympics (LOCOG) to include EVs as part of Olympic fleet.

It now appears that Locog and the Mayor have been travelling in different directions. City Hall has provided me with a statement in response to the BMW news. A spokesperson said:

We hope that BMW, through this sponsorship agreement, will take the opportunity to demonstrate their long term commitment to electric vehicles and showcase their new MegaCity car at the 2012 Games.

We will continue to work with all car manufacturers to deliver the Mayor's plan for 1000 vehicles in the GLA fleet as soon as possible and 25,000 charging points in the capital by 2015.

Do I detect a note of, well, disappointment?