If there is one thing I have been waiting for in anticipation it’s the arrival of electric cars (EVs) in our effort to curb the rising carbon emissions. But somehow my hopes seem to dwindle by the day as I see car manufacturers dragging their feet to switch to EVs. Most car magazines I read seem to continuously move the launch date of EVs into the future. I wondered for a long while why car manufacturers seem rather uncommitted to move to zero emission vehicles, and at one stage blamed them for not acting quickly enough. Now I’m starting to think that it is probably the uncertainty around the existing electricity generation infrastructure whether it is robust enough to support an EV ecosystem.
Most governments seem noncommittal in policy direction that will see more investment in revamping existing infrastructure, for generation of more electricity to levels that will support an EV transportation ecosystem. It is only those kinds of signals that will bring certainty to car manufacturers.
You might think that governments are doing a lot by offering “cash-for-clunkers”, but that is a stopgap measure that does not go far enough to address the infrastructure needed to support the future mode of transport. So far I have not seen any studies that look at the potential increase in demand on electricity if EVs were to hit the streets, and how that demand would be met with existing infrastructure. Maybe there are studies on this matter and if you know of any please let us all know.
To my opinion, capital expenditure on more electricity generation infrastructure, coupled with subsidies for purchasing EVs, will bring EVs to the showroom. It seems we are back to lack of political will again which seems to be the Achilles heel on our road to low emissions. We need to see some political leadership in power generation and just coming out of this 2007-2009 financial crisis, one would think that huge infrastructural spending (and in our case on generation of more electricity) will be a wise political maneuver; it will not only create more jobs but accelerate us out of this financial quagmire.
Fast Tube by Casper
