Cradle to Grave Comparison Between Battery Powered Electric Vehicles and Internal Combustion-Engine Vehicles 6 with battery-powered buses has led to the withdrawal of the fleets due to the limited ranges achieved¹⁴. l The technology potential chart above is based on in-house and external research by qualified engineers, scientists, physicists, programme managers and market researchers with a many years of experience in their respective industries. It represents our best estimation of the likely use of different types of battery-powered vehicles in a range of working environments. Above: Chart illustrating the technology potential of the utilisation of battery power for a range of transport requirements l Net Zero and the relentless goal of pursuing the electrification of everything is scientifically lacking – in fact, it’s pointless. Net Zero is unaffordable, technologically regressive, it’s overloaded with risk, it’s economically unjustifiable when no objective Cost Benefit Analysis has been either established or published by Government, and the technology is far from meeting the environmental benefits that are claimed. Recommendations l We recommend that the proposed ban on the sale of internal combustion engine vehicles by 2030 is immediately shelved indefinitely, and in the meantime, a variety of competing technologies should develop far more cost-effective and affordable products than battery-powered transport. This will allow the best available technology to emerge to help improve road transport that will not require the wholesale disruption of our national logistics – which would unfortunately be the case if the proposals for electrification go ahead. l We recommend the costs of using internal combustion engine vehicles should be compared against a realistic assessment of the costs required to secure electrification of the entire UK transport fleet. This will determine whether the investment is within the UK’s means. l We also recommend the focus of the Cost Benefit Analysis be based solely on monetary costs – this should be excluding political values which are aspirational and which have, in the past, coloured a realistic appraisal of large scale national schemes, such as HS2, Crossrail, the Ajax military vehicle, and the NHS IT scheme. l There needs to be an urgent realistic assessment of the electrical capacity required to support an entirely electrified UK vehicle fleet. It is essential for long term planning purposes that future electric power requirements should be established, funded, and managed cohesively. l We believe that all subsidies to both new and existing “renewable energy sources” should be discontinued as soon as is reasonably and legally practicable. If the technology behind total electrification is so good, then surely further taxpayer-funded profit-protection schemes are not required? If the technology can meet the demands of society in availability, sustainability and price, then it must be allowed to stand alone, unaided. l There should also be an investigation into how the 6,000 essential everyday products that are derived from the petrochemical industry can be replaced – because fossil fuels and derivatives will eventually become widely unavailable, due to the significant reduction in the quantity of oil produced¹⁵.
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