I've Seen The Future of The Car & It's Electric
Can you imagine a scenario whereby in 2050 we're all driving an electric car. That well known 'authoritarian socialist' Tory MP Therese Coffey can...
3 Jul 2011, 20:16
Is this what we're all going to get used to?
This obscure piece of trivia leapt to mind after noting a somewhat-over-the-top attack by Labour MP John Woodcock (who I respect and like a lot) against the Department for Transport and the publication last week of the Plug-In Vehicle Infrastructure Strategy, “Making the Connection”. Actually produced by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (note to self – PQ on the costs of this agency), it’s not quite as dull as it sounds and I think it presents a good progress check on building a user-friendly but realistic infrastructure of charging points across the country.
Nissan is building its electric car the “Leaf” in Sunderland and didn’t seem too disappointed as its own research backed up that of the government that most people would charge at home or at work, “therefore this is not a critical blow for electric car owners”.
But will green, electric cars just be a fad? Will they be as loved as the Sinclair C5 (!) - an idea at least 30 years too early- or will Top Gear and the Stig keep us hooked as petrol heads on big exhausts, aspirations of V8 engines and dreams of emulating Jenson and Lewis around Silverstone as we commute to work?
Given I have a nuclear power station in my constituency and we hope to have two more in the next 10 years, my two arguments for keeping nuclear as a key part of our energy mix are i) it is a low-carbon source of power and ii) it increases our energy security and can reduce our reliance for energy from external sources.
So what could we really do to drive down our reliance on oil and have a low-carbon future? I suggest that by 2050, the birth date of the truly Super Smart National Grid, we should have no (or very few) everyday cars running on petrol or diesel at all. That idea has already been struck down by appropriate Ministers and me condemned as an authoritarian socialist but I’m willing to stick my neck out and suggest there is some merit in using precious oil supplies for other things when we know we can power our vehicles just by electricity. We have made similar moves in the past – the removal of lead from fuel was controversial but the car manufacturers adapted. California and Germany have were the first to make stands on zero emissions and recycling of car parts and a lot of this thinking has come into our country via Europe.
Legislators have to think ahead and industry always responds. So perhaps there is a chance for the UK to be the pioneer? To be the leader of the pack? Vroom vroom.
Comments (4)
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I don't think the Government will need to impose electric cars or legislate much to get people to buy them.
I think that in the timescale you suggest, production prices will come down enough, ranges will extend enough, charging times will decrease enough, and oil prices will rise to a point to make buying an electric car a viable proposition for a lot more people, especially in the cities, where charging points will first get established.
Once quick charging points are established in the cities, they will gradually spread out and across the country, which will make owning an electric car viable for more people, until eventually it will reach a tipping point when electric cars become the majority rather than the minority. Once that point is reached, 90%+ electric car ownership will become inevitable .
Will this happen before 2050? I'd be amazed if it doesn't, and it shouldn't even need government legislation, because it will be market forces driving it.
08/07/2011 18:22We have "charging points" already, they sell petrol diesel & LPG. Charging takes around five minutes.
No one wants to hook their car up for 12 hours.
Lithium batteries are a radiological and chemical hazard. Their weight makes cars less efficient overall.
Hybrids, even the "plug in hybrids" you mention are simply a stepping stone to hydrogen hybrids.
Your ideological preference for "green" has run ahead of your engineering knowledge.
I've seen your future Ms. Coffey it doesn't involve energy policy.
p.s. "pre-charged" that would imply there's such a thing as "post-charged"?!
08/07/2011 22:15Errr point of order, but electric cars are no more green than oil-fuel cars. Everyone seems to forget that just because they pump out no emissions directly they still have to get their electric from somewhere.
10/07/2011 07:15Therese,
You only have a very limited view ow the future. We don't have enough electrical generation capacity to generate enough power fr our current transport needs, and nuclear will probably not get us there until we develop technologies to extract uranium from sea water and if we adopt fast breeder reactor technology, both of which are a long way off.
Read here:
http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/mackay/
The future of the motor car is likely to be the bicycle.
02/08/2011 10:55