The green revolution is really a scheme to clear roads of private vehicles
sir – B W Jervis (Letters, November 18) highlights the disparity between the expected demand for, and supply of, electricity – should every existing petrol or diesel vehicle be replaced by its electric equivalent – but does not reach a conclusion.
The hidden aim of the Government, with encouragement from the green lobby, is to vastly reduce the number of vehicles on the roads, particularly those in private hands. It would be political suicide to state this openly, but the Government is fully aware of the electricity supply shortfall. This, together with the ability of “smart” meters to turn off consumers’ supplies, is the means by which vehicle reduction will be achieved.
Keith Whittaker Newcastle-under-lyme, Staffordshire
sir – Gi Fernando (Letters, November 18) is being disingenuous in referring to the ratio of charging stations to cars: we will need thousands more of them, as a petrol or diesel car can take on 400 miles worth of energy in two or three minutes, whereas an electric vehicle will have to occupy a charging point for several hours.
The day when an electric car can take on a charge in that time, either by an accelerated technique or by battery exchange, is the day I would consider an electric vehicle as anything more than a city runabout.
Ken Nesbitt
Ramsey, Isle of Man
sir – If we’re all being switched to electric or hydrogen vehicles by 2030, will society become intolerant of fossil-fuel engines?
For those who enjoy driving classic cars there is a ready solution: lowpollutant synthetic fuels, made from solar energy and carbon capture. The concern today is a scarcity of charging points, but we must hope the fuel
stations of tomorrow will offer synthetic petrol as well as electricity and high-pressure hydrogen. Vivian Bush
Beverley, East Yorkshire
sir – You report that the rush to electrify rail “risks new diesel fiasco” (November 12), but diesel had nothing to do with the rail fiasco of the Fifties.
Then, the recently nationalised British Railways built about 2,000 steam locomotives (designed prenationalisation), half of which were new “standard express” type.
BR was then made to purchase thousands of diesels from private builders to keep people happy with the 1955 modernisation scheme. It also continued to build steam locomotives, many of which outlived the diesels. David Pearson
Haworth, Yorkshire
sir – For those of us who travel less than 100 miles a day and have access to a charging point, electric cars will be convenient. For the remainder, hydrogen power is the way forward. Such vehicles are already available and, with the right infrastructure, can be refilled at a conventional filling station. I suggest that pure electric will be a footnote in history and that hydrogen will rapidly become the fuel of choice. Bernard Wilson
Ramsbottom, Lancashire
sir – Ann Hayward (Letters, November 20) need have no fear of pushing buggies over EV charging cables on pavements. They will all be stolen. A typical £200 EV cable is 30ft long and made from copper which, as scrap, sells for about £7,000 a ton.
Paul Mcclory
Oxford