Platinum woes signal end of petrol cars

I REFER to “Five years after Marikana, Lonmin fights for survival” (March 12).

Not too long ago, my broker and I had a disagreement about Lonmin shares and platinum.

My view was that the future of platinum was too dependent on the automotive industry, because the demise of the internal combustion engine was only a few years away. He asserted that there would always be internal combustion engines, even more cars, and that the future was brighter than ever.

Yet here we are, just after the Geneva Motor Show, and motor manufacturers — without exception — are rushing to produce electric vehicles, both passenger and industrial, as they see this as the way forward.

By 2025, only eight years away, few vehicles will be driven by internal combustion engines, and the use of platinum as a catalyst will go the same way.

The internal combustion engine today is a refined version of a 19th-century invention. It has served us well, as did steam engines until about 1945.

That there will always be internal combustion engines is beyond doubt, but the volume will be a small fraction of today’s output.

The push to autonomous cars and the idea that enterprises such as Uber will supply cars to fetch and carry us at the press of a phone button, is already being planned.

We will not have to own cars, and the sheer volume of vehicles will necessarily diminish.

This is not the distant future: it is just around the corner. — Chris Clarke, by e-mail