Is that the best they can do?

I have owned Audis since 1983. It’s now time to change my current petrol Q3, and I realise that my next car must be more environmentally friendly.

I have looked at EVs but on closer examination, from cradle to grave, they are not as environmentally friendly as the manufacturers will have you believe, and there are many disadvantages: cost, battery cost, battery weight, range anxiety and charging. Then I looked at hydrogen-fuel-cell cars – there are currently three on the market. These use a technology that is currently the most environmentally friendly, only

generating heat and emitting pure water. As far as I can see, there are only two major disadvantages to a hydrogen-fuel-cell car: cost and the lack of a refuelling infrastructure. The high cost is mainly attributable to tiny volumes and no economies of scale. The lack of refuelling infrastructure can be attributed mainly to successive governments, who have seen to it that most hydrogen stations are close to or within the M25.

So where do I go from here? My nearest hydrogen station is 35 miles away. Must I drive around in an EV, suffering from range anxiety, knowing that I should have bought a better technology?

Mark Woolfson

I’ve driven several fuel-cell cars (Honda Clarity, Toyota Mirai, Audi A7 prototype, Hyundai ix35) and, for what it’s worth, all drove nicely; refined, quiet, calming. They’re EVs, after all. But as you point out, fast refuelling counts for nothing if the nearest pump’s an hour’s drive away. A new VW ID.3, a bicycle and a green electricity tari ? BM