Electric cars and motor scooters are being hailed as the solution to all our pollution problems. But let us not delude ourselves. I base my doubts on the following points:
I don’t see electric cars taking off except as a second car plaything for the well off!- Herbert Messina-Ferrante, Attard
Firstly, they are not cheap and the running costs are rarely mentioned. They pollute as much as a conventional car. The onlysignificant difference is thatthe pollution is moved to the power station and the battery manufacturer.
What is the range of these vehicles? They may be good enough to commute to and from work or for light shopping but what about taxis, once the restructuring of the latter occurs and they are used more frequently, as it is hoped?
How fast are electric cars, particularly when the battery is low? I have experienced this problem when riding a city taxi.Who owns the battery?
How many times can the battery be recharged? Does leaving the car unused for a few weeks affect the battery? How much does it cost to dispose of an old battery? Can one update the battery technology? How long does it take to recharge the battery from near depletion? Does recharging the battery from a part-charged state have a bad effect?
In an accident, are any of the battery chemicals likely to burn or explode? Can the car be air-conditioned: heated in winter and cooled in summer? Where can I charge the car apart from home? And at what cost? These questions deserve a good analysis and we may end up with a lot of disappointing answers.
On the positive side, you’ll never need to buy oil or oil filters again, and maintenance is much reduced.
But mass ownership will give rise to an overwhelming number of other problems. Public charging points could be necessary and it will take hours to charge your car from a domestic power point.
Our electric power network has a limited ability to meet this load at night. We all have experienced power cuts due to overloading.
I have been informed that a full recharge will be equivalent to plugging in 1,000 electric fires.
I don’t see electric cars ever taking off except as a second car plaything for the well off! Hopefully the rest will be using public transport as I am sure that by that time Arriva will be functioning properly.
There will never be large electric trucks or agricultural tractors, so in the future fossil fuels will still be needed for them.
High-capacity batteries can be made, but only from rare expensive materials such as lithium.
More than half the world’s known lithium deposits are in a dried up lake in Bolivia. No doubt the Bolivians are already planning how to spend the money!