Hybrid and electric cars are not the future...
This is not really a question, just a comment. I just don't understand all this hype about electric and hybrid cars. I live in an apartment, probably way more than half the world lives in apartments or cities where recharging is not feasible. It doesn't look like the future to me.
Cheers
Philip Donegan (Ballina)Jan 2016 Filed under: hybrid
Expert answer
Hi Philip,
A very, very good point. However, I disagree with you on your broader 'hype about electric cars' comment - the only way we're going to be able to keep motoring, to keep some sort of private, personal transport going, is with electric cars. Now, whether that's with just batteries, or whether that's with hydrogen power or something else that hasn't yet been thought of, I don't know. But the days of digging up Jurassic forests in liquid form and burning them in engines is coming to a rapid close - it's not just about CO2 and global climate change anymore either; the Volkswagen scandal has shown that we've been slowly and insidiously poisoning ourselves with other gases from car engines too. Some 1,200 people in Ireland this year will die from respiratory illness brought on by pollution, a major multiple of those who will be killed in road accidents.
Your apartment point is well made though, and shows just what a period of transition we are currently in. A huge investment is needed to create an environment where electric vehicles can work simply and sensibly, and for all the efforts put in recently to install charging points and fast chargers, it's not nearly enough. Governments and energy companies, and the car makers too, will all have a major role to play in this, but it's just that no-one's playing enough of a role just yet.
Neil Briscoe - Complete Car Advisor@neilmbriscoe