Saturday, October 15, 2022
Our friends, electric?
I don't own an electric car, nor a hybrid, and I do not intend to get one in the near future. The cost is an obvious factor, but also doubts about their environmental sustainability. Electric batteries are expensive, their lifespan is limited and when installed in hybrid vehicles their weight means you actually get fewer miles for a gallon of petrol.
Furthermore, we are ripping up precious landscapes just to get at the scarce metals needed to make these batteries. And that is before I get onto the problems of charging the battery while living in a mid-terrace house with no driveway and no guaranteed parking space.
Other issues include the lack of public charging stations, and their reliability, as well as “range anxiety” over how far vehicles can travel on a single charge, and the rising cost of electricity.
My reluctance to adopt this technology is not unique. According to this article in the Guardian, although a record number of drivers want their next car to be electric, the cost-of-living crisis is forcing many to delay making the switch to an eco-friendlier vehicle. That is if it can be proved to be more eco-friendly.
Government hype about the environmental benefits of switching to electric appears to be cutting through. The paper says that the RAC have found that a record 14% of drivers say their next car will be electric, up from 10% last year and just 3% in 2018. A further 29% said they intended to switch to a hybrid vehicle of some description, which combines petrol and electric power:
However, soaring inflation, rising energy bills and the prospect of higher remortgage payments has led to increased economic uncertainty, putting the brakes on drivers switching to a new, cleaner vehicle.
The proportion of drivers who now do not know when they will go electric has increased from 36% to 42% year on year, while those expecting to do so in the next five years has dropped from 17% to 15%. The proportion who think they will be in an electric vehicle over a 10-year horizon has dropped from 25% to 21%.
“The squeeze on household finances brought about by the cost of living crisis mean people keen to get into an EV are likely to put off doing so,” said Williams. “Rising interest rates will also inevitably have a detrimental effect on the number of people who choose to buy new cars on finance.”
Personally, I think the rise of electric cars is a false dawn. They are nowhere as sustainable as they are made out to be. If a vehicle can be built that actually matches the hype, I will consider it.
My reluctance to adopt this technology is not unique. According to this article in the Guardian, although a record number of drivers want their next car to be electric, the cost-of-living crisis is forcing many to delay making the switch to an eco-friendlier vehicle. That is if it can be proved to be more eco-friendly.
Government hype about the environmental benefits of switching to electric appears to be cutting through. The paper says that the RAC have found that a record 14% of drivers say their next car will be electric, up from 10% last year and just 3% in 2018. A further 29% said they intended to switch to a hybrid vehicle of some description, which combines petrol and electric power:
However, soaring inflation, rising energy bills and the prospect of higher remortgage payments has led to increased economic uncertainty, putting the brakes on drivers switching to a new, cleaner vehicle.
The proportion of drivers who now do not know when they will go electric has increased from 36% to 42% year on year, while those expecting to do so in the next five years has dropped from 17% to 15%. The proportion who think they will be in an electric vehicle over a 10-year horizon has dropped from 25% to 21%.
“The squeeze on household finances brought about by the cost of living crisis mean people keen to get into an EV are likely to put off doing so,” said Williams. “Rising interest rates will also inevitably have a detrimental effect on the number of people who choose to buy new cars on finance.”
Personally, I think the rise of electric cars is a false dawn. They are nowhere as sustainable as they are made out to be. If a vehicle can be built that actually matches the hype, I will consider it.
Comments:
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You are quite right Peter. Now I have moved to Greece, I actually do need a car. So after being without one for 11 years, I looked at the various alternatives. I do want to help bring down pollution, but even a hybrid was too expensive to justify shifting, even if the charging infrastructure was in place and in Greece, outside of Athens, it just isn't. For the car I bought, I paid €26,000. A hybrid would have been €7500 more and a fully electric car would have been €55,000 more than double. I did the sums and could not break even on a hybrid for 9 years. The car is very fuel efficient and has one of the best pollution control systems available right now. The time is still not right for electric cars and maybe there is a better alternative?
Yes, the bicycle should be well used in the future.
Cars? Is it not time to stop our love in with them cos of all the resources used? The rise of the bus should come. A large amount of them should be used to transport the people. As they are mass carriers of people they will use less resources than having thousands of cars on the streets.They will also be better for the environment.
Cars? Is it not time to stop our love in with them cos of all the resources used? The rise of the bus should come. A large amount of them should be used to transport the people. As they are mass carriers of people they will use less resources than having thousands of cars on the streets.They will also be better for the environment.
Isn't it ironic that Harrods and various dairy companies up and down the country found economically viable vehicles powered by batteries comprising basic elements lead, sulphur, hydrogen and oxygen, while today's drivers have to be bribed or coerced* into switching to today's tech based on lithium and rare earths? Those slow old local delivery vehicles lasted for thirty years or more, ten years longer than the maximum battery life of today's Teslas etc.
I am an optimist. I believe that a solution will be found to the battery problem; there are enough people working on the technology. We should be grateful for early adopters who have the capital to invest in what is still an ecological experiment. There should already be pay-offs in cities where pollution is a headache, but I have yet to see these quantified.
*It would help if government ensured that there was a network of charging stations throughout the country
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I am an optimist. I believe that a solution will be found to the battery problem; there are enough people working on the technology. We should be grateful for early adopters who have the capital to invest in what is still an ecological experiment. There should already be pay-offs in cities where pollution is a headache, but I have yet to see these quantified.
*It would help if government ensured that there was a network of charging stations throughout the country
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