Cars and the electric revolution

Management Today in Britain has run what must be the most negative article published on the quest for greener transport. Billions of dollars are being funnelled by the US, Japan and China in the quest to replace the internal combustion engine with a cleaner alternative. Management Today appears to think it a total waste.

 

It states that "the main contender is battery power, but many obstacles stand in the way of its universal acceptance: it needs an infrastructure of its own—and is it as green as it seems?" 

But then it explains: "The reasons were clear: most hybrids are pricey, dull to drive, have fuel economy only marginally better than some diesels, and on a cradle-to-grave basis harm the environment more than conventional cars. As for pure electric vehicles (EVs), those that plug into the mains and have no internal combustion engine on board to charge their batteries and provide extra oomph, just 179 such passenger cars were sold in the UK in 2008."

 

True, but that is Britain where the take up on any new technology was ever slow.

This article in Management Today then really goes way over the top. An example: "They probably feared that the crumple zones of these odd-looking cars consisted of empty fag packets lashed together, and that their anti-skid control comprised an array of rabbit’s feet and Hail Marys." 

 

It goes on: ‘Although pure EVs themselves produce zero emissions, the electricity in their batteries doesn’t grow on trees. If you take into account the emissions from the power-generating plants, one estimate is that these ‘zero-emission’ vehicles actually generate the equivalent of 80g of carbon per 100 kilometres — not much better than today’s most efficient small diesels.

 

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders reckons that, even in 2015-20, EVs in Britain will not be mass-market 

products. 

 

Management Today  finishes by saying that by forcing the pace and strong-arming car makers into following their lead, governments could create another disaster. It is, of course, looking at the world for a purely UK-centric point of view.  That ecological cars are a disaster is not a view that would generally be held in the car industry of China.