Last week, in connection with its “clean air” targets/obligations, the Government announced its plan for banning the sale of new diesel and petrol cars from 2040. Electric vehicles are slated as the future of motoring.
Personally I think that the Government’s plans are ill thought out and flawed - a rushed, minimum-acceptable-quality response to a legal requirement from the EU institution that we are soon not to be part of.
Despite the rhetoric, for the next few years at least, I can’t see our elected representatives doing anything significant in terms of UK electrical infrastructure (to help power all the electric vehicles) whilst there are Brexit negotiations and the state of our economy to worry about.
I am more broadly sceptical though; until electric vehicles have greater ranges, can be recharged more quickly in far more places, can be acquired at sensible cost new and second hand, why would the average person take the risk? Let’s face it, our vehicles are typically the second most significant investment we make after our homes.
The internal combustion engine (ICE), fuelled by diesel or petrol, has been getting more and more refined over the last 100 years and Euro 6 compliant diesels are much cleaner than the media might have you believe. Why talk about scrapping the technology now? That will stop all the investment in making it better still.
The shame is that the dirtiest thing about modern diesels is the Volkswagen Group and its lying, cheating and emissions fixing. Without the VW Group’s dishonesty, diesel wouldn’t be getting such bad press or feature so prominently on the Government’s radar.
Is electricity really the complete solution? What about hydrogen? There could be something in that as a fuel source and I hope there is. It seems to me that good steps are being made in that direction (Hyundai ix35, Toyota Mirai, Honda Clarity) that wouldn’t require such wholesale change to the motor and vehicle refuelling industries (both significant UK employers by the way).
2040 is 23 years away so you may think there’s plenty of time to change. And maybe there is, but over the last 20 years, some argue that very little about the motor industry has changed fundamentally (bar consolidation).
When it comes to electricity, the costs for running our homes have been going up and up over the last decade. In fact only the other day British Gas announced an increase of 12.5% for its electricity customers. Far from cutting down our electricity consumption, it would appear that we are now expected to demand more and more in order to manage our personal transportation. But where is the power going to come from and how much is it going to cost?
To illustrate; though the target is 2025, it has been reported that 2027 is the earliest date likely for Hinkley Point C to be operational. By the way, the budget for the plant - £19.6bn.
To be frank, I have my doubts that the new nuclear reactor will be operational by 2040…and so where’s all the extra electricity going to come from in the meantime? And when the plant is operational, it has been given carte-blanche to charge higher than market rates for the electricity it generates. What will that mean for us and our electric vehicles?
After Hinkley Point C, do you want more nuclear power stations in the UK?
How quickly do you anticipate your employers electrifying their car parks so that everyone can rock up and plug their cars in? If they don’t install power points for every parking space, will employees have to compete for power? Do you anticipate that your employers will want to provide the electricity for your car for free? Even if they did, how long would it be before the HMRC wanted to levy a benefit in kind tax on the electricity and/or the parking space?
Electric vehicles are getting better and more usable and they will play an increasing role in fulfilling our transportation needs but banning ICE technology in new vehicles at an arbitrary point in the future feels stupid to me.
What will happen to F1 cars? Will the 2040 season only have Formula E? What about new motorbikes, HGVs, tractors and other agricultural machinery, diesel locomotives, light aircraft; are they expected to ditch the ICEs too?
Still at least 23 years is enough time to think a bit more. Maybe some more of the questions will eventually get some answers.
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Personally I think that the Government’s plans are ill thought out and flawed - a rushed, minimum-acceptable-quality response to a legal requirement from the EU institution that we are soon not to be part of.
Despite the rhetoric, for the next few years at least, I can’t see our elected representatives doing anything significant in terms of UK electrical infrastructure (to help power all the electric vehicles) whilst there are Brexit negotiations and the state of our economy to worry about.
I am more broadly sceptical though; until electric vehicles have greater ranges, can be recharged more quickly in far more places, can be acquired at sensible cost new and second hand, why would the average person take the risk? Let’s face it, our vehicles are typically the second most significant investment we make after our homes.
The internal combustion engine (ICE), fuelled by diesel or petrol, has been getting more and more refined over the last 100 years and Euro 6 compliant diesels are much cleaner than the media might have you believe. Why talk about scrapping the technology now? That will stop all the investment in making it better still.
The shame is that the dirtiest thing about modern diesels is the Volkswagen Group and its lying, cheating and emissions fixing. Without the VW Group’s dishonesty, diesel wouldn’t be getting such bad press or feature so prominently on the Government’s radar.
Is electricity really the complete solution? What about hydrogen? There could be something in that as a fuel source and I hope there is. It seems to me that good steps are being made in that direction (Hyundai ix35, Toyota Mirai, Honda Clarity) that wouldn’t require such wholesale change to the motor and vehicle refuelling industries (both significant UK employers by the way).
2040 is 23 years away so you may think there’s plenty of time to change. And maybe there is, but over the last 20 years, some argue that very little about the motor industry has changed fundamentally (bar consolidation).
When it comes to electricity, the costs for running our homes have been going up and up over the last decade. In fact only the other day British Gas announced an increase of 12.5% for its electricity customers. Far from cutting down our electricity consumption, it would appear that we are now expected to demand more and more in order to manage our personal transportation. But where is the power going to come from and how much is it going to cost?
To illustrate; though the target is 2025, it has been reported that 2027 is the earliest date likely for Hinkley Point C to be operational. By the way, the budget for the plant - £19.6bn.
To be frank, I have my doubts that the new nuclear reactor will be operational by 2040…and so where’s all the extra electricity going to come from in the meantime? And when the plant is operational, it has been given carte-blanche to charge higher than market rates for the electricity it generates. What will that mean for us and our electric vehicles?
After Hinkley Point C, do you want more nuclear power stations in the UK?
How quickly do you anticipate your employers electrifying their car parks so that everyone can rock up and plug their cars in? If they don’t install power points for every parking space, will employees have to compete for power? Do you anticipate that your employers will want to provide the electricity for your car for free? Even if they did, how long would it be before the HMRC wanted to levy a benefit in kind tax on the electricity and/or the parking space?
Electric vehicles are getting better and more usable and they will play an increasing role in fulfilling our transportation needs but banning ICE technology in new vehicles at an arbitrary point in the future feels stupid to me.
What will happen to F1 cars? Will the 2040 season only have Formula E? What about new motorbikes, HGVs, tractors and other agricultural machinery, diesel locomotives, light aircraft; are they expected to ditch the ICEs too?
Still at least 23 years is enough time to think a bit more. Maybe some more of the questions will eventually get some answers.
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