Thursday 10th July 2008

Electric Car Switch 'Not An Option'

Environmental group claims a complete switch to electric would topple national grid

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The national grid would collapse if everyone switched to electric cars, an environmental group has revealed. The Environmental Transport Association has criticised Prime Minister Gordon Brown for suggesting all British motorists will be driving electric or hybrid cars by 2020 and says higher taxes are not the way to stop people using petrol.

Electric and hybrid cars are currently an expensive and impractical alternative to petrol and diesel models, the group said. A spokesperson for the Environmental Transport Association added: ‘Many government ministers already have the use of a Toyota Prius hybrid car, but at almost £18,000 this type of car is out of reach for most people – high motoring taxes cannot cajole every British driver into an electric car if the market is not ready.’

The ETA believes that if everyone switched to electric cars the national grid would be unable to cope and said the question of where this additional capacity would come from was not addressed by Mr Brown. The ETA is a not-for-profit organisation that lobbies for sustainable travel and alternative motoring.

[chris_crossley]

An enviromental group thats in touch with reality! thats new.

Still don't understand why the greens arnt' screaming about the taxes that have been robbed from the motorist being invested in public transport. Rather than MP's house improvments.

[tegwin]

NO st SHERLOCK!!!!!!

Which genious had to sit down and figure that out.....


Makes me so angry when politicians spout rubish without actually engaging the warm mushy stuff in their head!

[wl606]

But Gordon Brown didn't say that everyone will be driving electric/hybrid cars by 2020. I know pistonheads.com has a Conservative bias, but some of the "news" reports recently have been ridiculous.

[carnut101]

Oh, FFS!! The penny has finally dropped eh?

Oi Gordon, kind of sts on your theory doesn't it? You twt

[anonymous-user]

So we all switch to electric cars, the grid crumbles, government tax new electric car owners to death to pay for grid rebuilding...........

[Official Slacker]

Dave_ST220 said:

So we all switch to electric cars, the grid crumbles, government tax new electric car owners to death to pay for grid rebuilding...........

Yup, sounds about right

[Twincam16]

When will they listen to Lotus and get cracking on a methanol infrastructure.

There's a reason Brazil isn't suffering from any sort of credit crisis right now...

[sniff petrol]

Twincam16 said:

When will they listen to Lotus and get cracking on a methanol infrastructure.

There's a reason Brazil isn't suffering from any sort of credit crisis right now...

Don't you mean ethanol?

[Twincam16]

sniff petrol said:

Twincam16 said:

When will they listen to Lotus and get cracking on a methanol infrastructure.

There's a reason Brazil isn't suffering from any sort of credit crisis right now...

Don't you mean ethanol?

Lotus reckon they could make all cars tri-fuel (ethanol, methanol, petrol) compatible for £40 per car. The petrol would be distilled from just about every crop you could think of, rather than energy-intensive oilseed rape, and the production of the fuel actually gives off oxygen.

They petitioned the government with well-reasoned scientific reports. The government ignored them.

The environment is far too much of a cash cow/publicity opportunity for too many people. If solutions were found, they'd have nothing to do.

[carnut101]

You are right. UK is a business, and it is in their interest to generate cash. A solution would limit that cash for them, therefore they have no interest in one.

[NismoGT]

Looks like Gordon's Assumptions once again have no substance. Think its obvious now that we are being cornered by NuLabour. We have no choice but to pay the extortionate tax.

We need a national strike.

[jonmsm]

Twincam16 said:

sniff petrol said:

Twincam16 said:

When will they listen to Lotus and get cracking on a methanol infrastructure.

There's a reason Brazil isn't suffering from any sort of credit crisis right now...

Don't you mean ethanol?

Lotus reckon they could make all cars tri-fuel (ethanol, methanol, petrol) compatible for £40 per car. The petrol would be distilled from just about every crop you could think of, rather than energy-intensive oilseed rape, and the production of the fuel actually gives off oxygen.

They petitioned the government with well-reasoned scientific reports. The government ignored them.

The environment is far too much of a cash cow/publicity opportunity for too many people. If solutions were found, they'd have nothing to do.

I Didn't know that!!!!!!!!!! What idiots! A solution to the green problem they seem to adament on, a cheap simple quick fix... if this isnt evidence that the government dont have the publics OR the environments best interests in mind but instead their wallets then this is it! Surely there should be more publicity about this. If the word gets around maybe someone might actually listen in no. 10 (wishful thinking!) Why dont we say sod the government and just get on with it ourselves. If they dont recognise it as fuel option they can't tax it without taking notice of it's advantages!!

Viva Lotus!

[m4tthew]

jonmsm said:

Twincam16 said:

sniff petrol said:

Twincam16 said:

When will they listen to Lotus and get cracking on a methanol infrastructure.

There's a reason Brazil isn't suffering from any sort of credit crisis right now...

Don't you mean ethanol?

Lotus reckon they could make all cars tri-fuel (ethanol, methanol, petrol) compatible for £40 per car. The petrol would be distilled from just about every crop you could think of, rather than energy-intensive oilseed rape, and the production of the fuel actually gives off oxygen.

They petitioned the government with well-reasoned scientific reports. The government ignored them.

The environment is far too much of a cash cow/publicity opportunity for too many people. If solutions were found, they'd have nothing to do.

I Didn't know that!!!!!!!!!! What idiots! A solution to the green problem they seem to adament on, a cheap simple quick fix... if this isnt evidence that the government dont have the publics OR the environments best interests in mind but instead their wallets then this is it! Surely there should be more publicity about this. If the word gets around maybe someone might actually listen in no. 10 (wishful thinking!) Why dont we say sod the government and just get on with it ourselves. If they dont recognise it as fuel option they can't tax it without taking notice of it's advantages!!

Viva Lotus!

Knock on effect is higher food prices though, as more and more farmers turn to growing crops for bio fuel.

[mik_jg]

So the PM decides to tax the hell out of motorists saying it will not only help the environment, but will have the knock-on effect of helping us too. Hmmm... Can't really see his logic.

May be he should look at environmental impact of hybrids taken as a whole-life study, rather than as a simple "low CO2 and fuel consumption around town - job's a good 'un" blinkered view that's adopted by the majority of the anti-car brigade. Imagine the amount of mining, refining, and transportation of raw materials to make a worldwide Prius fleet? The amount of power stations running around the clock to charge all the G-Wizz plugged in at night? The mess left when they come to the end of their useful life? Clearly the man is an ill-advised fool.

Anyway, I'm away to drink some petrol and do some work...

[OJ]

Not with methanol, it can be refined from CO2

[anthonymcgrath]

Brown the clown mentioned some time ago in an earlier budget that the environment issues would create new job sectors and create new roles of work. He meant in his own office.

[Don]

m4tthew said:

Knock on effect is higher food prices though, as more and more farmers turn to growing crops for bio fuel.

Until recently we were paying/subsidising British Farmers to leave good agricultural land fallow. Madness - when they could have filled the space with biofuel crops.

I'm not sure that biofuel use is high enough to actually be having a real effect on world food prices yet - perhaps there are local effects.

[fatboy b]

Glad to see Gordon fk chops has done his reseach!!Stupid fkwit ing tt!

[anthonymcgrath]

good point Don but even a small replacement for drilled oil would have the world saying "well why not make more" ...where does that leave the oil companies?

[Mar10]

Oh thank god for that... Just when I thought all environmental groups were run by brain dead commie lefties, one pops out of the wood work and says something that makes sense.... well done to the Environmental Transport Association... no seriously... I've got respect for enironmentalists when they say stuff that makes sense....

Now if you can just persuade Gordon that his plans make no sense and that it's in everyone's interest if he just fks off now... the world will be a better place... Just think of the amount of hot air and bull st that could be saved by getting rid of him alone! If we could get rid of the Labour front bench we might be able to save as much as 75% of the UK's annual bullst/hot air output....