Letters
to the editor
Following the Big Issue feature on electric cars published in the Spring edition of Rotary Magazine, we have received a number of letters on the subject. Here is a selection of those letters. After this issue, the subject has been closed.
What’s not to like about electric cars?
Just to put the other side of the debate - I have owned an electric car for over four years, it has covered 32,000 miles and I have never experienced range anxiety.
It will cover 270 miles on a full charge, but I prefer to regard the practical maximum as 200. I have off-street parking and mostly charge from my domestic supply which attracts 5% VAT compared with 20% at all public charging points.
Good planning is necessary when undertaking long journeys but most of my motoring involves journeys of 20 miles or less daily.
Planning is relatively easy using web sites such as ZapMap, but it is always advisable to have an alternative plan. Many hotels and even B&Bs now have charging points as do some National Trust attractions.
Fuel costs work out at less than 50% of those for internal combustion engine cars. Servicing costs are low due to the fewer number of moving parts and brake pads and discs look as if they will last 100,000 miles because the regenerative braking provided by the electric motor which acts as a generator helping to slow the car thereby assisting the brakes.
Oh, and the acceleration is addictive! What’s not to like?
John Griffiths,
Rotary Club of Hythe, Kent
Electric vehicle article overcharged
The article in the Spring 2024 Rotary Magazine about electric vehicles appears slightly ‘overcharged’!
Volvo estimates that an electric Volvo C40 needs to be driven around 68,400 miles to have a lower total carbon footprint than its petrol equivalent, if the former is powered by the current global electricity mix. Based on 2021 UK driving statistics, the average annual mileage is 7,400 miles.
Automakers from Ford Motor and General Motors to Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Jaguar Land Rover and Aston Martin are scaling back or delaying their electric vehicle plans.
Also, Tesla has reportedly cut down its electric vehicle production at its Giga Shanghai factory in China due to sluggish growth in the sales of new-energy vehicles, tough competition and price war, according to Bloomberg.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe, founder of the INEOS Group, stated: “There is a rather fundamental drawback with the electric car. It simply doesn’t do what you want a car to do. It doesn’t get you from A to B reliably if you are on a long journey. And you have no idea whether you will be able to fill it up. Put it together and it’s referred to as ‘range anxiety’. And it’s very real.”
I do agree with ‘diversity’ in all areas of life, but let’s get back to reality, which policy makers frequently overlook.
John Morton,
Newport Rotary Club, Staffordshire
Is there a future for electric cars?
In his article in the Spring issue of Rotary Magazine, Norman Hunter presented a very compelling case for the future of electric cars (EVs). But this is hardly surprising given his role with The Electric Vehicle Association Scotland.
The reality is that not all manufacturers are "ratcheting up production" as he says and some, notably Tesla, are actually reducing EV production, reacting to decreasing not increasing demand. And one of the largest car rental companies in the world (whom I had better not name) is disposing of their EV fleet in response to renters insisting on petrol or diesel internal combustion engine cars (ICEs).
An EV has a much shorter range than an ICE and ready availability of charging points is spasmodic. Both are typically advertised in the most optimistic terms by manufacturers in their advertising. But ranges quoted are achieved under strict test conditions and can be dramatically reduced by the use of headlights, wipers, climate controls and audio systems.
Then there are the real environmental impacts of EVs. Manufacturing of an EV actually produces a greater carbon footprint than an ICE. The lithium batteries powering EVs make them much heavier than ICEs and the tyres and brakes of EVs wear faster, all of which have environmental impact.
And what about the mining of lithium for the batteries? This is extracted from some of the poorest countries in the world who do not enjoy the standards of safety, health and welfare we take for granted for our people.
EVs have been around just long enough for them starting to be scrapped and their parts and components recycled. For lithium batteries that is an issue still to be resolved.
Hugh McCrea,
Rotary Club of Bridge of Allan & Dunblane, Scotland
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