Electric Dreams

Sometimes you get gloomy when studying this Carbon MBA. How on earth are we going to meet these emissions reductions? But, then you get this government initiative on electric cars: here's 5K - go buy one. Has the government finally got it or is this another cynical gimmick?

Transport is the largest user of energy and accounts for 36% of our primary energy. According to zerocarbon britain, if all transport was replaced by electric vehicles this would amount to a reduction of energy usage in personal road transport by 87% if there are no extra cars on the road and we travel the same distance in our cars.


Well, the first thing to remember is that electric cars are not low carbon; they are lower carbon than petrol cars, but the electricity will ultimately come from power stations. Given that renewables will only account for 40% of our energy needs by 2050 and if you want no nuclear and you are unsure about the unproven carbon capture and storage, then that means up to 50% fossil fuels resulting in CO2 emissions.

Electric cars are more energy efficient - they have less moving parts than non-electric cars making them more reliable, and they use less energy for longer distances. The problem is that we don't enough charging points or much choice of cars. We do have one charging point in Norwich at Chaperfield car park, but have you ever seen an electric car in the city?

There are alternatives. We could ration cars or car use - in Paris they have banned SUVs and many cities only allow you to use your cars on alternate days. Bio-fuels are touted as another solution, but if the fuel is produced in Indonesia chopping down rain forests then shipped to the UK, emissions aren't reduced at all. Interestingly, some argue that increasing investment in public transport is another red herring. In the Netherlands, where there is a superb transport network - trams, buses and trains all integrated and run on time - the Dutch actually use their cars more. I didn't believe it either.

Electric cars are the solution and we need the government to push the development of charging points across the country and to offer more than £250million. Will they do it?