A think tank known as the Green Alliance has blamed Mr Bean actor Rowan Atkinson for negatively affecting the perception of electric cars.
Referencing Mr Atkinson, 69, in the House of Lords the group said that Mr Atkinson had damaged the reputation of electric cars in an article he wrote last year.
In a letter, the Whinging Lefties claimed: “One of the most damaging articles was a comment piece written by Rowan Atkinson in The Guardian which has been roundly debunked.
“Unfortunately, fact checks never reach the same breadth of audience as the original false claim, emphasising the need to ensure high editorial standards around the net zero transition.”
Their comments come as speculation grows over the progress of electric car sales in the UK.
In his article published in June last year for the Guardian, Mr Atkinson said he felt “a little duped” by electric cars after buying his first EV in the 2010s.
He concluded: “Friends with an environmental conscience often ask me, as a car person, whether they should buy an electric car.
“I tend to say that if their car is an old diesel and they do a lot of city centre motoring, they should consider a change.
“But otherwise, hold fire for now. Electric propulsion will be of real, global environmental benefit one day, but that day has yet to dawn.”
Sky reported that following Mr Atkinson’s controversial article, the publication published a response from the senior policy editor of Carbon Brief Simon Evans.
Mr Evans said: “Atkinson’s biggest mistake is his failure to recognise that electric vehicles already offer significant global environmental benefits, compared with combustion-engine cars.”
The GreenAlliances’ claim about the impact of Mr Atkinson on electric cars comes weeks after a report suggested low-income households in the UK were rejecting cars powered by electricity.
Data from the Department for Transport’s National Travel Attitude Survey found how much a household earned affected whether they bought an electric car.
Car expert from carVertical Matas Buzelis said following the revelation: “EV sales are growing fast, but they still only made up 16.5 percent of brand new car sales last year according to the SMMT, a figure barely changed from 2022.
“What might hold sales back is the finding that 45 percent of survey respondents had low to no knowledge of electric cars.
“There is much still to be done to encourage drivers to choose greener cars, especially if many do not understand the benefits. The lack of charging points also remains a huge barrier to the take-up of plug-in cars.”
