City commuters might cope without petrol, hybrid or diesel cars – but what of other drivers?
sir – The ban on the sale of new petrol, diesel and hybrid cars from 2035 (report, February 5) may well become the Government’s “poll tax” moment.
While batteries in electric cars may continue to be improved, insufficient thought has been given to drivers making long journeys on fast roads. Battery life drops considerably when travelling at 65-70mph or when towing a caravan.
Battery-driven vehicles may well be great for commuting, but they are not suited to other types of motoring.
Geoff France
Holmfirth, West Yorkshire
sir – If your electric car is stuck in traffic on a freezing day, presumably you have to choose between frostbite or using the heater, which will flatten the battery in no time. The obvious answer is to buy a hybrid.
Michael Cheetham
Hurstpierpoint, West Sussex
sir – Can this proposed ban on petrol, diesel and hybrid cars really be the
work of the same Government that has cut back on railway electrification schemes?
R A Stokes
Bisley, Surrey
sir – Why the government obsession with dates and deadlines for environmentally friendly issues?
We should learn from the United States and do our best each year without international commitments. The fuss over electric and hybrid cars will look irrelevant in five years’ time. Other methods of propulsion will have found greater favour by then.
John Lavender
Port Erin, Isle of Man
sir – By the time it is finished, it will have taken more than 15 years to build one power station (Hinkley Point).
How can we expect to build the many power stations that will be required all over Britain as a result of these proposals?
David Walters
Corbridge, Northumberland
sir – Leaving aside the question of whether we have enough spare generating capacity for all these cars, the costs of installing individual charging points at home, in public places and at motorway service stations will be astronomical.
The future should lie with hydrogen cell cars. These are already made by Toyota, Honda and Hyundai. Even in their nascent form, they get close to mimicking current driver requirements.
Peter Forrest
London N6
sir – Alan Tovey (“Bumpy road to Johnson’s electric dream”, Business, February 5) says that we should learn from Norway, where 50 per cent of new cars are electric.
However, it is worth remembering that 99 per cent of Norway’s electricity is generated by hydropower.
Lisbeth Thiesen
Henley-on-thames, Oxfordshire
sir – I was recently talking to some
Swiss friends who mentioned that they had a gas-powered car. I assumed that this would either use hydrogen or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), the latter being a mix of propane and butane. However, they were referring to compressed natural gas (CNG), which is the gas used to heat our homes. Apparently this fuel is quite common across much of Europe.
A major advantage is that CNG can be stored as a gas at ambient temperature, unlike LPG. Furthermore, because CNG is lighter than air, vehicles using this fuel are permitted to use underground car parks. A CNG car can run on biogas, which increases the environmental benefit.
Depending on the model, a CNG car will have a range of 200-500 miles. However, some models come with a dual fuel tank, boosting their range to around 600 miles.
With all these advantages, the technology surely deserves to be more widely discussed.
David Bray
Godalming, Surrey