Jeremy Clarkson says people don't '­realise electric vehicles aren’t as green as they’re made out to be'

If you thought you'd ever see Jeremy Clarkson zipping around in an energy-efficient Tesla, well, prepare to be wrong.

The former Top Gear host has no qualms with being controversial.

His most recent gripe with the 'woke' world in which we live involves sports cars...or the lack of them.

In quite a deftly segue, Clarkson managed to rag on clean or energy efficient cars in a review for the Toyota GR86, which he calls 'rorty and nice'.

"I truly loved driving this car, and I loved the noise it made too, until I discovered it was an artificial sound coming at me through the speakers," Clarkson said.

"Then I hated it."

The English broadcaster then put pen to paper to reminisce about nostalgic country drives on Sunday afternoons in decades now past.

Or, perhaps, it was a fantasy that never actually existed. Well, no more than Daisy Buchanan's green light at the end of her dock in F Scott Fitzgerald's legendary novel The Great Gatsby.

A fanciful dream, always just out of reach.

Warner Bros. Pictures

And, a dream from a novel that acts as a cautionary tale on conspicuous consumption and how greed and excess can have a pernicious, toxic, and permanent impact on both the world and those around us.

So what is the offence that now stands in the way of a proper gentleman's cruise around old country lanes? Energy efficient vehicles.

Clarkson kicked off his rant with: "It was what young men did before the invention of quiche Lorraine and weird pronouns. [They] drove sports cars... [that] sent out a clear message: 'I have no need for practicality in my life. I am single and I’m carefree and I like the wind in my hair'."

He then posed the question: "When did man's interest in sports cars (or perhaps, an interest in suffering through a midlife crisis) fade?

"I’m not sure when the allure of the sports car began to wane. It’s not a drive to be green.

"People ­realise electric vehicles aren’t as green as they’re made out to be, that they are phenomenally expensive to buy and increasingly expensive to reinvigorate, assuming of course you can find a charging location," Clarkson said.

"Which, as there’s only one for every 30 electric vehicles on the road, is unlikely. And nor are there increasingly draconian rules about the height a bonnet should be. No. It’s a general malaise."

Clarkson. Credit:: Mark Thomas / Alamy

It’s not the first time Clarkson has run his mouth about planet-friendly rides.

"I will never have an electric car,” Clarkson said, as per Drive.com.au. “I can see that people like them and that they’re interesting [but] I just like the sound of a V8.

“I never want to drive a car that hasn’t got a nice sound coming out of the front or the back, and petrol does that. I’m nearly 60, I can drive petrol cars til I die."

Well, that may be tickety-boo for you, Clarky-boy. But what about the rest of us who have to live with the planet your generation ruined?

Even though he and his colleagues have test driven numerous electric cars, the TV host still reckons a car just isn’t as good as when it's destroying the environment.

"Call me a dinosaur, but I prefer Pink Floyd to Stormzy, and I prefer a Ford Mustang to a Tesla," he said.

Topics: Cars, Jeremy Clarkson, Tesla

Rachel Lang

Rachel Lang is a Digital Journalist at LADbible. During her career, she has interviewed Aussie PM Malcolm Turnbull in the lead up to the 2016 federal election, ran an editorial campaign on the war in Yemen, and reported on homelessness in the lead-up to Harry and Meghan’s wedding in Windsor. She also once wrote a yarn on the cheese and wine version of Fyre Festival.

@rlangjournalist