Dear Editor Sydney Morning Herald, (cc: Jeremy Clarkson)

Just when you think it's safe to laugh again, that the world is facing up to its fossil fuel addiction, that renewable energy is on the ascendancy and that everything might just turn out all right, along comes Jeremy Clarkson, host of "Top Gear".

Here's his latest contribution to the retardation and jeopardisation of the human race:



It's a four minute skit involving an all electric Reva, a vehicle that allows thousands of Brits to make their daily commute without need to wash their hands of Iraqi blood. The drivers of these cars, who tolerate the limited space, the manual window winders and the slow acceleration, are nothing less than heroes.

I'm no automotive expert, yet I picked up the following errors in Clarkson's video:

The car runs out of juice - so why didn't they charge the car, which has an 80km range?

Clarkson asserts "you can't stop because that would wear the battery down". Actually it's the opposite. The new Reva-NXG has regenerative braking, meaning when you brake or go down hill, you put energy back into the battery. It's the very reason I love my Prius, and why every other car I've driven since seems so recklessly wasteful with fuel.

The table does not move even an inch when hit by the Reva – impossible unless the table is bolted down. That's plain fraud, and I hope the manufacturers have the resources to drag Clarkson (and the sponsors who put him up to it) through the courts.

Clarkson says immediately after impact "that is acid, that is acid you can hear there". Unless the lines are rehearsed, or the sound added later, that's impossible to assert without inspection. (And if it is acid, I'd rather be involved with acid leaking under the hood than leaking petroleum, ethanol or hydrogen.)

Top Gear? Dipsticks would be a better name.

Regards,
Carl Sparre
Eastwood