Green cars - closer than you think
29 November 2010 00:00:00
Since the website is dedicated to news and updates about KLIMS'10 I thought I would weigh in on how far we actually are from the utopian view of emissions free motoring. The short and simple answer is farther away than we think though that is not the fault of car manufacturers.
While some industry commentators may argue about the merits of hybrid (they're not as good as you may think) against clean diesel (they're much cleaner and more efficient than you can imagine) engines, the true holy grail is electric motors either as a pure electric system or as a fuel-cell vehicle. Forget for a moment about the various 'wheel-to-well' calculations (a jumbo jet pours out more CO2 taxiing off the runway compared to a fleet of cars in a traffic jam) and concentrate on the net result that we are trying to achieve. Cars powered by electricity that don't pollute.
There are already some examples too. Nissan is ready to start selling their Leaf EV, while GM will have the Volt, which may have a small petrol engine but is nominally an EV too. There are loads of cars currently undergoing user acceptance testing too and it's not inconceivable that by 2015, there will be dozens of pure electric cars ready for you to choose from. Ah, but there is a catch.
It's called infrastructure. Who will invest in charging stations and fast chargers to make the EV as painless and practical as your current car? And even with fast chargers, what if you need to charge up on your way to work? 30 minutes for 80 per cent power may sound promising but it's ridiculous when it takes you less than five minutes to stop, fill and pay for a tank of fuel. Then what about those who live in apartments. Yes, you can charge your car overnight but will your neighbours want to share the inevitable rise in shared utility bills?
So, yes, the electric car and pollution free personal transportation are just over the horizon. All that needs to happen now is for the governments and the fuel companies to invest in a recharging/refuelling infrastructure.