Dark times ahead if electric vehicles are forced upon us

RE: We need to “power up” in electric vehicle revolution (GCB, 10/4).

As I told state parliament last week I expect my next vehicle to be an electric car but that will depend on the economics of such a purchase, the way it should be.

State Labor and Bill Shorten want to force a move to 50 per cent electric vehicles by 2030.

I am planning already for a charging station in my residence but I don’t think too many other people are so how will these cars be charged if people can afford them.

Many people park outside their houses or on the street. How will they charge these cars?

The organisation CarAdvice tells us a modern electric car takes 48 hours to charge from a normal wall socket, eight hours from a $3000 purpose-built home charger and one hour from a super charger none of us can afford at home.

Can you imagine 10 million cars requiring charging every night – the lights would go out.

Minor problem ... a modern electric vehicle requires 30kW or charge to travel 100km.

Do the sums, 10 million x 30kW equals 300,000 megawatts (mW) the entire national energy market provides about 65,000mW an hour.

So charging these vehicles consumers will demand five hours of the entire energy grid. Forget cooking dinner or watching TV. This is fantasy land thinking on steroids.

We are transitioning to more renewables and electric vehicles but it needs to happen in its own good time when it makes engineering and economic sense to happen not because a government forces us to.

Get real Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey.