...and the poms, page-2

It seems everyone is jumping on the green car bandwagon.... and rightly so. I have always said that government assistance and legislation is an imperative (in the absence of a raging oil price) to kick start the semi-electric vehicle industry along. Most of the plusses for vehicle electrification are not measured in an immediate cost-return analysis. Stuff like energy dependance, reduced oil dollar drain on the Current Account, green jobs at home replacing oil dollars sent o'seas, cleaner city air and lower green house gas emmission and avoiding the inevitable oil crunch sometime in the future by beginning the move away from oil dependance today (still a 20 year project) are all upside that only governments will harness.

Individuals are by their nature "someone else can make the difference" and will in majority make decisions based on their wallet and the effect on next weeks pay check. Even if higher cost EV's save money in the long run based on fuel savings people tend to think headline cost and by the cheapest. Governments have a roll to encourage the public by both carrot and the stick methods to make decisions that benefit their society in the long run against the damage done by short sighted opportunism. Higher fuel taxes, subsidies and credits for vehicle electrification will help EV economies of scale until they are competitive with the already mass produced and perfected ICE technology. Fuel rationing over the remainder of this century together with technological improvements will take care of the rest.

The UK with the North Sea oil starting to dry up will see this as an imperative as will the rest of Europe no doubt. Just look at the stranglehold Russia has on the supply of natural gas to Europe to see how fragile energy security is. A more paranoid view might suggest that with a coming deep depression possible that social upheaval by the masses of unemployed increases the chance for civil and international wars to break out.

Enough rambling, its all good news as the picture starts to fill out.

goodluck and happy Easter all.