Are Battery Powered Cars Really Green?

Monday, 30. November 2009

As with anything ecological there are some strong views when it comes to the debate on battery powered cars. The Labour Government believes that battery power is the way to go and is offering a £5,000 subsidy per battery powered car from 2011. This will cost £230 million but according to experts in the motor industry the future depends totally upon the ability of the battery manufacturers to develop batteries that weigh less than a medium sized elephant and last longer than a 150 mile trip without the need to recharge for 8 hours. Just some minor considerations there. It is therefore hardly surprising that the Tories have said they will review any such laws if they get into power at the next general election. The Lib Dems in the meantime have proposed a showroom tax that will be imposed on large new gas guzzlers with the extra tax used to subsidise both battery powered vehicles and other low emission vehicles. They astutely pointed out to the idiots amongst us that money ‘goes from one end to the other.’ Phew, thank gawd for that I was struggling with the theory on that one! One to watch I believe as there are views that suggest that increased demand for electricity could put up the cost of electricity to homes and businesses, the carbon footprint required to produce such vehicles is greater, once the batteries are taken into the equation, than the cost to produce a petrol or diesel car and finally that the cost per mile to run such vehicles, after allowing for the battery depreciation, is higher than the cost per mile of a reasonably frugal diesel. By Graham Hill