[imagesource:wikicommons]

Electric Vehicles have become the new vegan, but Blackadder seems to think that just like tofu, your Tesla might not be the answer to Mother Nature’s survival just yet.

It’s also quite telling that a recently penned piece by Mr. Bean creator, Rowan Atkinson, makes a better case against the hastily implemented bans on petrol cars than most motoring experts have managed to do.

Don’t be fooled by Rowan Atkinson’s television characters as the man is no Boldrick. Before he went forth with Blackadder, Atkinson obtained degrees in electrical and electronic engineering, with a subsequent Masters in control systems. So he’s not just another celebrity trying to keep his Ford sponsorship.

Atkison penned his defence of petrol cars in a well-articulated opinion piece for Guardian recently, noting that there are many reasons why petrol cars are still ‘less disruptive’ to the environment than electric vehicles (EVs).

Atkinson explains that he is a fan of EVs, having purchased a hybrid model almost 18 years ago, followed by a fully electric version nine years later. As a fan of the ‘fast, quiet, and very cheap to run’ models, he readily admits that his gripes with EVs are not based on their performance or affordability, but rather the damage these cars create during the production process.

‘Electric vehicles may be a bit soulless, but they’re wonderful mechanisms: fast, quiet and, until recently, very cheap to run. But when you start to drill into the facts, electric motoring doesn’t seem to be quite the environmental panacea it is claimed to be.’

With current technology, greenhouse gas emissions during the production of an electric car are 70% higher than when manufacturing a petrol one, and most of this ‘green cost’ is taken up by battery manufacturing.

The problem lies with the lithium-ion batteries fitted currently to nearly all-electric vehicles: they’re absurdly heavy, many rare earth metals and huge amounts of energy are required to make them, and they only last about 10 years.

Or as Atkinson puts it, “It seems a perverse choice of hardware with which to lead the automobile’s fight against the climate crisis.”

The development of new solid-state batteries that can charge more quickly and are a third of the weight of the current ones is still a few years away from being rolled out in production, and by that time, most petrol cars would have been replaced by super heavy EV’s with short lifespans. This hardly makes for ‘renewable’ alternatives.

Hydrogen-fueled cars are a possible remedy for the EV quagmire, and several car manufacturers have made remarkable progress towards introducing these engines, particularly for trucks that are notoriously difficult to power with electrical. But it would again take years for the technology to become widespread, as well as for infrastructure to be brought up to speed.

‘If hydrogen wins the race to power trucks – and as a result every filling station stocks it – it could be a popular and accessible choice for cars.’

Atkinson however believes that our ‘biggest problem with society’s relationship with the car is the “fast fashion” sales culture that has been the commercial template of the car industry for decades.’

‘Currently, on average we keep our new cars for only three years before selling them on, driven mainly by the ubiquitous three-year leasing model.’

It seems a terrible waste to ditch a car after only three years in order to buy ‘the new model’. To Atkinson, it seems that if most people extend their ownership of a car by just a few years, the need to produce, and the CO₂ emissions associated with it, would be vastly reduced. 

A sensible thing to do would be to speed up the development of synthetic fuel, which is already being used in motor racing.

‘Synthetic fuel is a product based on two simple notions: one, the environmental problem with a petrol engine is the petrol, not the engine and, two, there’s nothing in a barrel of oil that can’t be replicated by other means.’

Until hydrogen and synthetic fuels are developed more, it may just be good advice to hang on to your old car, which by now has paid for its manufacturing footprint, unless it’s a diesel bakkie that sits in traffic all day.

You can read his full argument here, but in all honesty, EVs are just like AI in a way. It’s shiny and new, and therefore we think it’s much better all round. It’s only when we zoom out and really look at all the associated risks that the shine fades a bit.

Atkinson makes a good point, and for some reason, an old Boldrick recipe comes to mind. Asked by Blackadder how he prepares his rat stew, Boldrick says he marinates them in mud. When asked how long he marinates the rodents, he simply replies: “Until they’re dead.”

Not sure how this connects to EVs and the future of vehicle fuels, but it’s hella funny.

[source:guardian]