APPG 2030 Ban

Fair Fuel APPG for UK Motorists and UK Hauliers August 2021 Page | 56 Chairman’s Summary Let’s look at the real world about the implications of this headlong dash to cut carbon dioxide emissions with personal transport in the firing line. The Department for Transport has announced its intention to ban the sale of new petrol-powered vehicles by 2030. There is no chance there will be enough charging points by 2030 to supply the increasing number of BEVs required under the government’s plan. There are insurmountable issues to be faced by those in flats or living in multiple occupation. Even if electricity supply can be overcome, the prospect of long extension leads from upper floors starts to look very real. It is clear proper charging points aren’t there now and there is no serious plan to put millions of them in place by 2030. We would need at least 10,000 new charging points to be installed every single day between now and 2030 to get somewhere close to what will be needed under the plan. Less than 10,000 new municipal and street charging points were installed nationally in the first 6 months of 2021. There is an obvious feasibility and infrastructure failure and no plan. The electric vehicle sector also hasn’t agreed with itself on standardised batteries, plugs and connections. So not only do we not have enough charging points, there’s a whole different set of them, just like the different charging connectors for different mobile phones. A starting point of standardisation of battery packs might have offered a solution, with energy stations of the future allowing for rapid automated exchange of a discharged battery pack for a recharged one. Instead, the manufacturers have embarked on a myriad of battery types with as many permutations of location of them within their vehicle models. We never attempted to supply petrol or diesel to our front door but are now on a path to try to do the equivalent of that to provide BEV motive power. We’ve had decades of dither in the formulation of a 21st century energy policy. We already rely on interconnector power from Europe, derived from nuclear and overwhelmingly coal powered generation. This is before at least a doubling of electricity demand to provide the power for vehicles and to replace domestic gas boilers. Grid level battery storage is touted as the answer to smooth out lumps and bumps in renewable generation covering many square miles across the country. The consequence is added demand for already rare metals and the potential for catastrophic failure. The question to be asked, outside of whether in environmental terms it is sensible, has to be - is it feasible? Where will all the extra electricity come from to supply the power?

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy ODMyMDY=