More Green Subsidies For The Rich – Britain’s Electric Cars

Like all things in the Green world Electric Cars cannot exist without subsidies, tax payers give £5000 to everyone who buys one.

Mention the electric car and depending upon the person you are talking to, the first thing mentioned will either be how Green and tree huggy they are, or range anxiety, the very limited range that current electric vehicles have.

Big Green has pushed the Electric Vehicle (EV) as the way forward because EV’s have zero CO2 emissions, according to the warmists.

Lets examine this claim of zero CO2 emissions, which is not actually possible because the CO2 footprint of a vehicle is manufacture, use and destruction, not just driving the charged car which is what the warmist claims are based on.

Then there is the inconvenient truth of how the electricity that charges the battery is generated, if the power station is powered by fossil fuels then under warmist rules the electric car has caused CO2 emissions, the fact is that in environmental terms EVs are no cleaner than the current generation of modern diesel cars.

Now the House of Commons Transport Select Committee has warned that EVs, just like wind turbines, benefit the rich as ordinary tax payers subsidise the Green Dream, again:

The Transport Select Committee has questioned the value of the £11 million earmarked to provide charging points for electric cars.

Whitehall’s drive to promote electric cars is part of a wider programme to slash Britain’s greenhouse gas emissions.

With only 1,706 on the road so far, this works out at nearly £6,450 for each motorist and this does not take into account subsidies of up to £5,000 towards buying the vehicle in the first place.

Motorists who buy one of the 10 approved electric low emission cars receive a grant equivalent to 25 per cent of the purchase price. They are also exempt from Vehicle Excise Duty.

But with electric cars having a maximum range of around 100 miles substantial investment is also needed to provide charging points across the country.

The range of EVs before a charge is required, is a serious problem, not only because of the 8 hours it takes to the charge the battery, but also as the ambient temperature drops so to does the range of the EV.

An EV that has a range of 80 miles on a warm summer day, has a range of less than 60 miles in the depths of winter.

But the effectiveness of the money spent on the Government’s “plugged in places” scheme in promoting the technology was questioned by the Committee.

“So far, Department for Transport expenditure on plug-in cars – some £11 million – has benefited just a handful of motorists,” said Louise Ellman, the committee chairman.

“We were warned of the risk that the Government is subsidising second cars for affluent households; currently plug-in cars are mostly being purchased as second cars for town driving.”

A new problem with EVs is emerging, they are silent, apart from some tyre rumble on the road EVs are quieter than normal vehicles.

Guide Dogs for the Blind are concerned that EVs will become the silent killers of the future and are pressuring the Government to make manufacturers fit engine noise simulators to EVs so they can be heard approaching.

One thing is for sure, fitting a device that makes an EV sound like it has an internal combustion engine is not going to help with the range as the battery will have to provide power for this, as well as, all the other functions like lights, wipers and heating, and actually getting the EV to move.