Blackadder and Mr Bean star Rowan Atkinson has claimed that he feels 'a little duped' by electric cars and has urged friends not to get them. Mr Atkinson, who bought his first electric hybrid 18 years ago and his first pure electric car nine years ago, has now said 'electric motoring doesn't seem to be quite the environmental panacea it is claimed to be.' In an essay written in The Guardian , Mr Atkinson, who has a degree in electrical and electronic engineering, points out that a study from Volvo suggests that greenhouse gas emissions are 70 per cent higher in the production of an electric car compared to petrol vehicles. According to the car-obsessed actor, this is mainly due to 'lithium-ion batteries' which is nearly in all electric vehicles and extremely heavy. They use 'many rare earth metals and huge amounts of energy required to make them, and they only last about 10 years.' This means that although electric cars have zero emission they are not yet as environmentally efficient as some may imagine.
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