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Top Gear has come under fire from electric vehicle manufacturers, most notably US automaker Tesla which has taken legal action against the BBC alleging "fake test".
The show made claims regarding Tesla's roadsters true range of 339km per charge (on the show it was reported as being 88 km per charge) and that it unexpectedly ran out of charge.
Now Top Gear has been caught allegedly faking another test, this time involving Nissan's LEAF.
In an episode aired in August 2011, the show's host Jeremy Clarkson (behind the wheel of a Nissan LEAF) and James May (Peugeot iOn) set off on a journey to Cleethorpes in Lincolnshire.
The 96km journey came to an abrupt end when Clarkson's LEAF ran out of charge and needed to be pushed. In the programme they concluded that while electric cars were an important step towards zero-emission technology, they "are not the future".
Nissan executive vice-president Andy Palmer has called out Top Gear for staging the breakdown and claims that the test was unfair from the start because data sent from the LEAF during the test showed the vehicle had 40% charge remaining when Clarkson began his trip and that it was driven "in circles" until the battery died.
TOP GEAR RESPONDS
Andy Wilman, Top Gear’s executive producer, responded to Nissan on the Top Gear website...
"Mr Palmer, Nissan’s own website for the Leaf devotes a fair amount of space to extolling the virtues of fast charging; but nowhere does it warn potential customers that constant fast charging can severely shorten the life of the battery
"It also says that each Leaf battery should still have 80% of its capacity after five years’ use and that, to a layman, sounds great. But nowhere is it mentioned that quite a few experts in the battery industry believe a battery down to 80% capacity has reached End Of Life status. Peugeot, for example, accepts 80% capacity as End Of Life."
During the episode viewers were not told that the battery had less than 50% charge and we're left to assume that the LEAF was fully charged. May's iOn (a rebadged Mitsubishi MiEV) was also shown to be low on charge but viewers are not told if it, too, died.
Wheels24 watched the episode and understand that it was an attempt to show what would happen if an electric vehicle ran out of charge nowhere near a charge point. We suppose the show could’ve been tweaked to highlight the fact that while several manufacturers are building electric vehicles, the infrastructure needed to maintain them (charging stations, points etc.) is still in its infancy.
Instead the episode portrays the LEAF, and in fact all electric vehicles, in a poor light.
'THAT'S HOW TV WORKS'
Wilman claimed that the show was not testing the vehicles' range and was aware that Nissan was monitoring the vehicle remotely.
"We never, at any point in the film, said we were testing the range of the vehicles, or that the vehicles wouldn’t achieve their claimed range. We also never said we were hoping to get to our destination on one charge."
"We were fully aware that Nissan could monitor the state of the battery charge and distance travelled via onboard software. We weren’t bothered about it, because we had nothing to hide."
Clarkson admited that he knew the vehicle had minimal charge left before setting out but replied: "That's how TV works"
Clarkson and May caused quite a stir at a college in Lincolnshire, easter England when they somewhere to "plug in" their electric vehicles to charge them.
Watch the clip below:
The show made claims regarding Tesla's roadsters true range of 339km per charge (on the show it was reported as being 88 km per charge) and that it unexpectedly ran out of charge.
Now Top Gear has been caught allegedly faking another test, this time involving Nissan's LEAF.
In an episode aired in August 2011, the show's host Jeremy Clarkson (behind the wheel of a Nissan LEAF) and James May (Peugeot iOn) set off on a journey to Cleethorpes in Lincolnshire.
The 96km journey came to an abrupt end when Clarkson's LEAF ran out of charge and needed to be pushed. In the programme they concluded that while electric cars were an important step towards zero-emission technology, they "are not the future".
Nissan executive vice-president Andy Palmer has called out Top Gear for staging the breakdown and claims that the test was unfair from the start because data sent from the LEAF during the test showed the vehicle had 40% charge remaining when Clarkson began his trip and that it was driven "in circles" until the battery died.
TOP GEAR RESPONDS
Andy Wilman, Top Gear’s executive producer, responded to Nissan on the Top Gear website...
"Mr Palmer, Nissan’s own website for the Leaf devotes a fair amount of space to extolling the virtues of fast charging; but nowhere does it warn potential customers that constant fast charging can severely shorten the life of the battery
"It also says that each Leaf battery should still have 80% of its capacity after five years’ use and that, to a layman, sounds great. But nowhere is it mentioned that quite a few experts in the battery industry believe a battery down to 80% capacity has reached End Of Life status. Peugeot, for example, accepts 80% capacity as End Of Life."
During the episode viewers were not told that the battery had less than 50% charge and we're left to assume that the LEAF was fully charged. May's iOn (a rebadged Mitsubishi MiEV) was also shown to be low on charge but viewers are not told if it, too, died.
Wheels24 watched the episode and understand that it was an attempt to show what would happen if an electric vehicle ran out of charge nowhere near a charge point. We suppose the show could’ve been tweaked to highlight the fact that while several manufacturers are building electric vehicles, the infrastructure needed to maintain them (charging stations, points etc.) is still in its infancy.
Instead the episode portrays the LEAF, and in fact all electric vehicles, in a poor light.
'THAT'S HOW TV WORKS'
Wilman claimed that the show was not testing the vehicles' range and was aware that Nissan was monitoring the vehicle remotely.
"We never, at any point in the film, said we were testing the range of the vehicles, or that the vehicles wouldn’t achieve their claimed range. We also never said we were hoping to get to our destination on one charge."
"We were fully aware that Nissan could monitor the state of the battery charge and distance travelled via onboard software. We weren’t bothered about it, because we had nothing to hide."
Clarkson admited that he knew the vehicle had minimal charge left before setting out but replied: "That's how TV works"
Clarkson and May caused quite a stir at a college in Lincolnshire, easter England when they somewhere to "plug in" their electric vehicles to charge them.
Watch the clip below:
