The silent revolution is here

Not everyone is sleeping; an early bird stirs and puts the kettle on — new fuel for a new day.

To improve clarity and save space, websites about electric cars use the following acronyms:

ICE = internal combustion engine (gasoline); EV = electrical vehicle; BEV = battery powered EV (all electric vehicle);

PHEV = plug-in hybrid EV (engine + battery); FCEV = fuel-cell EV. Quebec, Ontario, and British Columbia are far ahead of the other provinces regarding EV sales. Chevrolet Volt (PHEV ), Nissan Leaf (BEV ), and Tesla Model S (BEV) are the bestsellers. EV sales in Canada doubled between 2014 and 2016. EVs were 0.5 per cent of all new cars sold in Canada in 2016 (11,000 of 1,950,000). However, if EV sales keep increasing by 50 per cent per year, their market share could reach 28 per cent or more over 10 years. The clock is ticking.

Storms, floods, droughts, heatwaves, and wildfires urge buyers to go electric. Some will cling to their pickup trucks, SUVs, and crossovers as long as possible. When gasoline-powered vehicles become less than 50 per cent of vehicles on the road, some oil productions and refineries may become uneconomical and close, making gasoline scarcer and more expensive.

Many well-functioning vehicles may be dumped — just as horse carriages were suddenly replaced by cars, typewriters by word processors, vinyl records by CDs, fax by email, phone by Skype, and film by video and digital. When new and better technology appears, old systems collapse fast.

BEV and PHEV form the bridge between the old and new dispensations, between ICE and FCEV. People will get used to electric cars, and in the meantime the hydrogen infrastructure (for fuel cells and gasoline engines) can be developed. When cars began to multiply in the early 1900s, roads, repair shops, and filling stations soon followed.

When gasoline filling stations add hydrogen to their lineup, BEVs can easily be adjusted to FCEVs by installing a fuel cell in cars to charge the batteries on the go. Then flat batteries won’t let people down halfway to their destination.

The coffee/tea of a new dawn is brewing; everyone will soon sip their first cup.

Jacob Van Zyl

Lethbridge