Are Electric Vehicles the Answer to High Fuel Prices – Yes
The electric car has been with us for almost as long as the petrol car, however this does not always mean it's the answer to our problems, and for many drivers, it would be completely insufficient.
An electric car is perfect if you spend most of your day in the city, however for cross-border trips, especially the 3,000 mile London to Tbilisi that I do twice a year, batteries would be completely useless on the European international highways. In this case, as I've talked about in a previous post, too, the petrol-electric car would also be problematic for my driving, as a petrol engine actually produces more pollution than its diesel counterpart, especially models like mine that are fitted with a particulate filter, on longer runs, added in with the poor economy of petrol engines makes it neither a good financial proposition nor a good environmental one.
I'm not talking about super-cars here, I drive a Skoda Octavia vRs, which has just about all the power in the world combined with low emissions. I looked into several cars when I got my latest model, and it became immediately apparent that the £8 I could save every day on the congestion charge would have over £15 per day extra costs on petrol, servicing and actually buying the car in the first place, bearing I only drive into London a few times a week, this could be catastrophic for my pocket, especially with diesel being the cheapest option in many European countries.
I tried an electric car in London last year, and very quickly noticed that it would not be suitable for anyone travelling more than about 10 miles into work each day, of which most the British population does, with a charge life of only 35 miles, which would make it difficult for me to even get into London each day, let alone driving around, and in my own opinion, it would be absolutely hilarious trying to pick 3 passengers and 3 large suitcases from Heathrow Terminal 5.
Also, electric cars have to cost something to charge, and I'm sure that keeping one on a socket overnight would not work out a lot cheaper than actually putting diesel into the car each week, which given the extra costs for the technology, would make the entire idea seem rather pointless, don't you think?
It's your call, and it's an option that you have to take as to whether you could live with one, but I seriously don't think that I could.
