Myths and Mysteries - The Electric Car - Future or Fallacy?
So let me fess up straight away, my name is Peter Banks, I drive an electric car and, since my conversion, I want to share the good news about EVs (Electric Vehicles) with everyone! So am I biased? Of course! My carbon footprint is less, I am now practising what I preach and I’m saving money. Whilst the last point will be highly important to many, for me making a personal, yet token, action towards saving the planet is reason enough.
My second confession is I have been concerned about our environment for some time and nailed my colours to the mast by joining the Green Party in 2008. Sadly, in this country, addressing climate change is not given the urgent and critical priority it warrants.
So, how did I get here?
Until recently I drove a diesel car, rather than a petrol version, because I was led to believe that was the most environmental option. In September 2015 I was horrified to discover it could have far worse emissions than specified after the ‘Diesel Gate’ revelations. When I started the tricky task of researching my next car the massive amount of jargon and rhetoric was overwhelming to my non petrol head grey matter! Then came the epiphany...
From a Twitter post I followed a link to a talk by Robert Llewellyn, he of Red Dwarf and Scrapheap Challenge fame, and a clearer light started to dawn. Whilst he now has his own YouTube channel, Fully Charged, all about news relating to EVs, it was his TEDx talk, as above, that summarised his own journey. Whilst he claims not to be a scientist, and he is shockingly poor at mental arithmetic, his layman’s approach to explaining sometimes difficult concepts in straightforward, non jargonised language - with a generous helping of humour - is compelling.
Unfortunately there is much mis-information bandied about concerning Electric Cars, ostensibly referred to as research, which, on closer inspection, proves to be data provided by vested interests in the status quo, aka the fossil fuel industry. So let’s banish five myths to start with.
Myth One - EVs are slow
Essentially petrol and diesel engines utilise Victorian technology. They employ the same principle as a good old Steam Locomotive: pistons, cylinders, valves and connecting rods but obviously use a more efficient fuel. Now, despite fossil fuels being very energy dense, electric cars do not have to convert energy to such extremes: the battery powers a motor that drives the wheels which is highly efficient and makes them extremely nippy. In fact the prestige Tesla cars can achieve an impressive 0-60 mph performance of under 3 seconds!
Myth Two - EVs are expensive
Yes, the List prices of EVs are higher than an equivalent petrol or diesel car, however, there is currently a £4500 pound government sponsored discount, zero road tax, no congestion charges and, along with manufacturer's deals, this actually makes the cost competitive. On top of all that even if you have a relatively low mileage of say 20 miles a day (the average daily car commute is 26 miles) you will save £1600 per year!
Myth Three - EVs are heavier and cause more pollution
I could think of ruder words but let’s just go with ‘Tosh’! Come on, they are NOT heavier than trucks, buses or heavier than thou 4 x 4s for goodness sake?! EVs utilise something called Regenerative Braking which reverses the use of the motor to slow the car down whilst also recharging the battery. Similar to changing gears to slow down it means brake wear is much less and, taking Tesla, Nissan and BMW, for example, their manufacturing plants have each committed to providing renewable energy on site. Another challenge raised is that the electricity when charging is never ‘Green’. Well, even if all electricity used l was non-renewable, CO2 emissions are reduced by more than 50%, and we are producing more electricity from renewable energy all the time – although we could do more!
Myth Four - If everyone drove EVs the Grid couldn’t cope
The founder of Ecotricity has carried out detailed research and the numbers are such that if every car in the UK was an EV an increase of 12% of grid capacity would be required. However most charging is carried out at home overnight when the demand on the grid is at its lowest which actually helps reduce the overall costs of shutting down power stations and turbines to reduce output. On top of this the massive amount of electricity used to refine crude oil to diesel or petrol would be recovered.
Myth Five -The batteries might explode
I’ll make this one short! Batteries can overheat but there is sophisticated technology to cool and control that. So how long have you driven a car around with a far more explosive medium just behind you? Petrol / diesel cars are all potential bombs…
There’s so much more I could share - suffice to say I am entering an exciting new world which fulfils my environmentalist standpoint and is proving to be a very pleasant pilgrimage!
This very clever chap famous for his role as Kryten in Red Dwarf and as a presenter of Scrapheap Challenge has a YouTube channel devoted to mainly electric cars along with presentations about environmental issues. Whilst he professes to be a Nuclear Power supporter but this excellent and entertaining short film tackles head on the lunacy about Hinkley Point which will be of great interest to local Mersea bods.
Our The Islanders rowing team have been holding station at sea anchor awaiting more favourable wind conditions before moving North through the St George's Channel and into the Irish Sea... Although they are now adrift of the world record and have team member Gavin Sheehan suffering with a back sprain we long to see them back on course leading the GB Row 2013 race.
The billing as the world's toughest rowing race has been proved true with 4 of the 6 starters running into difficulties and no longer competing.
Excitement builds on Mersea Island once again as we support our boys in The Islanders team rowing 2000 miles non-stop round Britain's coast in the GB ROW 2013 race. At the time of writing The Islanders in Black Oyster are just nudging it ahead of the rest of the fleet which now comprises 6 entrants.
Have lived below a colony of wild bees for the last five years who have kindly created all this honeycomb (4.5 cubic feet) ready for some seriously local honey to be extracted. East Mersea's bee man Peter Inson both supervised opening up the roof and safe removal of the bees which will now be under his care. He estimates this haul should produce around 80lbs of honey with a shelf life of ~4,000 years!
Sometimes I'm really glad I do actually say what I think! For a while I have been commenting on how wonderful the in-house honey and mustard salad dressing tastes at the very best eating place on Mersea, The Art Café. I've been calling it 'Jungle Juice' and they've kindly been giving me extra helpings! Then on Friday, at our staff training lunch, the proprietors, the lovely Maggie and James presented me with my very own bottle of their delicious nectar!
A use for all the old PCs after Apple iPads take over the armchair world... as long as it's Fairtrade coffee, of course!
Coffee much needed today at the half way point on After The Fire's wee Help for Haiti tour of Essex and Sussex, last night centre of the lesser known universe, Mersea Island, tonight down in Burgess Hill.
Delighted us old rockers, After The Fire, (or ATF) have been approached to play not one, nay, two fundraisers next weekend to raise money for the needs of the folk in Haiti:
Jan 29th 2010 - Haiti Fundraiser - ATF plus two Bands £5 min donation Essex Youth Camp - Mersea - CO5 8SX - Doors Open 7:30pm
Jan 30th 2010 - Haiti Fundraiser - Touchstone, The Puritans and ATF £5 min donation St Paul's Catholic College - Burgess Hill - RH15 8WA - Doors Open 6:30pm
Scenes at the fourth Mersea Island Boxing Day swim to raise money for the RNLI today... a gorgeous day for it! This event has now grown from a handful of entrants in its first year to nearly 100 watched by a crowd of around 600.
One desirable aspect of when the tide comes up over the road on Mersea Island is that there is a little window when everything stops for a while... no-one can get on or off the island (via the causeway called 'The Strood' locally) and midweek there is a peace that gently descends, wonderful!
Couldn't resist nipping down the road here on Mersea and snapping a much better and charming way of blocking off an entrance... why do we tend to lack God's gift of imagination when it comes to church matters ;-)
