Speeding up the Transition to Electric Vehicles.

It is inevitable that Electric Vehicles (EV) will take over as the main form of land vehicles in preference to the internal combustion engine (i.c.e.). I think there are important benefits that will almost certainly see this claim being fulfilled. These benefits also point to the need for overcoming the delay of implementing this transition.

1. The internal combustion engines emit undesirable pollutants that affect people’s health. This is a serious problem in cities where most people live in the world today.  

2. Electric Vehicles are overall more efficient in terms of energy even if they are powered from electricity generated from fossil fuels and thus have a lower carbon footprint.

3. Electric vehicles are simpler in design with no exhaust, engine, gearbox or clutch required. They are easier to drive and have less maintenance costs than the i.c.e.

4. It makes no difference to what energy source or fuel is used to create the electrical energy so the EVs are similar over the world today and forever into the future.

5. As more electrical energy is created from renewable energy, then the carbon footprint of the EV becomes smaller and smaller.

6. Having more EV’s allows the amount of energy from renewables in the energy mix to grow faster.

(At the present electricity generation may be less than 1/3 rd of the total energy demand from many countries. There may be times when the country produces 100% of its electrical energy and this limits the incentive to build new renewables. By having a greater fraction of the energy mix from electrical use increases the incentive to build more renewables)

7. EV’s batteries will likely be charged outside the times of peak demand and thus increase the overall efficiency of the electrical grid; (That is an improved load factor which decreases the amount of generation required for the same reliability)

8. A “smart grid” will very easily, with readily available technology, improve the load factor efficiency further. If a parked vehicle is to be charged over a known prolonged period of time, such as overnight, or through the working day, then the grid can choose when to charge the vehicle and thus matching supply and demand more effectively. There should be many owners (including public transport) where this would be convenient.

There are difficulties with this developing technology, for example providing the necessary charging infra-structure, particularly for those who can't have home charging facilities or to overcome range limitations. There will be many such cases with city dwellers who will be unable to have access for home charging facilities. It seems, however, that the advantages are so important that these issues will be overcome; the sooner the better.

Overcoming the “catch 22”:

There are many motorists at the moment reluctant to buy an EV without adequate charging facilities and there is little incentive to provide the facilities unless the demand increases. This of course is the classic “catch 22” situation.

Can carbon taxes or regulation overcome procrastination?

An important point to be made, when it comes to political solutions to environmental issues associated with energy use, is that there is unlikely to be a single solution to cover every country and every energy sector. .A carbon tax or an emission trading scheme may be very effective in changing the way we provide electrical energy and on certain key industries’ use of fossil fuels, but what rate would a carbon tax, for example, need to be to change motorists habits?

To see how effective a carbon tax may be in having an impact on reducing i.c.e. vehicles, it is worth comparing UK and US petrol and gasoline prices. In the UK the fuel costs are about twice as high due to fuel taxes on petrol. It is estimated in the US that a carbon tax of $1/ton would increase fuel costs by about $0.009/gal. To increase the cost of fuel for transport in the US to above that currently in the UK in order to have any influence it may be in the order of what may be politically unacceptable today. That is to be somewhere around $400/ton! It should be noted that this estimate is based on changing motorists choices and does not reflect the fact that fuel costs for vehicles is higher using gasoline than using electricity even if produced from gas, without any carbon tax.

Market forces alone are not overcoming this reluctance fast enough, however with government encouragement this may well be overcome with a combination of a few strategies such as: -:

1. Put an extra tax on i.c.e. vehicles.
2. Provide more charging facilities.
3. Put a deadline date on purchasing i.c.e.vehicles.
4. At a council level put a deadline date on i.c.e. Vehicles allowed in certain town locations.
5. Provide better EV public transport.

( The aim is really to reduce i.c.e. vehicles, not merely to increase EV’s)