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Originally Posted by Comfortably Numb
It is our consumption of oil that makes the polymer by-products so cheap that it more expensive to recycle used plastic, so we just discard huge quantities of it, polluting the planet. High time the government put a tax on virgin plastic, and cross-subsidised re-cycling of plastics, after all, there is far more waste plastic in the world than we are ever likely to need, as long as we continue to recycle it. And electric motors are so much more efficient than even the latest eco IC engines, even after including the losses from steam turbine generation ( again, far more efficient than the IC engine, even when produced by coal), and grid delivery losses, there is really no argument. Add to that the huge cost of delivering fuel to filling stations by tanker, transport of oil to refineries by supertankers, etc,it becomes apparent that electric cars, or electrification of existing cars, is the only way to make any impact on transport pollution. And as we replace more of our old fossil fuelled power stations with renewables, and roll out further efficiencies in our homes and businesses, more electricity will be available for charging up our cars. But you are correct that our current grid infrastructure is woefully inadequate for the carbon reduction promises made by our not-for-much -longer PM. Solar panels on every new building should be made mandatory. That would help!
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Some good points made here, however all those cables for power and the diggers to dig up the roads ( plug in station points and service points) and copper which has to condensed or fibre made from oils is a cost too, Electric is not what it seems, It is also folly when china knock out a power station in seven days, smog has no boundries........ just because the west think " were are great on the world" does not mean we are, the rest of the planet are still catching up..... thousands of miles of cable ( is a cost to construct) to make to ship out those tankers are now road diggers and transport trucks to the point of delivery the principle is the same, no end game here ELECTRIC is NOT the way to go. the factories still need power and oil to make the produce, seats, plastics, dash, carpets, etc, Battery cars can't stop that, sorry