The electric vehicle dream has turned into a total nightmare
The rollout of electric cars isn’t quite going to plan, is it? By the end of the decade it will be illegal to buy a new petrol car, but that doesn’t mean we’ve thought through the consequences.
There were always obvious problems with the technology: the electricity has to come from somewhere, and Britain isn’t installing enough chargers to meet government targets. And that’s before you take the rocketing price of electricity into account, which means that thousands of the handy roadside chargers where motorists could charge up for nothing have been pulled. There are nearly 40 per cent fewer than a year ago.
It now turns out that some bridges may not be able to take the weight of electric cars which, due to their large battery packs, are heavier than their petrol equivalents. Cue lengthy detours to a sturdier crossing point. It’s little use having new technology without the infrastructure to match.
Then there are the problematic metals the batteries contain. The environmental effects of mining them go on the debit side of the cost-benefit audit of electric cars.
A further issue is what happens when an electric car hits a pedestrian or a cyclist. Because they’re so heavy, the impact can be worse than that of a normal car. Urban 4x4s used to get a bad press because they could flatten pedestrians like a tank, but an electric car can do the same. Because they’re so quiet – unless they come with the fake engine noises manufacturers are working on – people might not hear them coming.
Moreover, if you’re remotely paranoid about surveillance technology when it comes to some social media apps or your smartphone, it turns out that some electric cars can collect data including route history and road speed. All the cameras, sensors, internet connectivity and radar which make the latest models so covetable also mean that they could theoretically be used for remote surveillance. I bet James Bond would pass on the electric vehicle and stick with the Aston Martin.
This doesn’t actually affect me. I cannot drive, and whenever possible travel by train. If I had my way, Britain would be dealing with the transport challenges of the future by reversing the Beeching cuts of the Sixties and reopening every tiny branch station in the country. But even I can see that this wouldn’t come cheap. What I do take issue with, however, is the way you can’t even discuss the problems with electric cars without getting jumped on.
Every new transport development does have its teething problems. Consider, for instance, the accidents during the early decades of the railways. The most spectacular was the Tay Bridge disaster of 1879, when the railway bridge collapsed in a gale under the passenger train to Dundee, killing everyone on board. The tragedy did occasion what is widely held to be the worst poem in the English language, William Mcgonagall’s The Tay Bridge Disaster. The immortal verse starts: Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silv’ry Tay!
Alas! I am very sorry to say That ninety lives have been taken away
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember’d for a very long time.
I don’t think any current poet can equal this. So in the awful event of an electric car bridge tragedy, maybe the Poet Laureate could rise to the occasion?