As the Government ponders how to tax electric cars, I’m surprised by how little debate is being directed at rewarding efficiency – a glaring omission, considering the industry’s focus (driven in part by customer demand) on prioritising both bigger and higher-riding cars, which in both cases are typically more profitable but more consumptive.
Why is this important? Achieving zero tailpipe emissions is merely a step in the right direction until our vehicles are powered entirely by green energy. Pretty obviously, burning coal to create the electricity to move a car creates large amounts of CO2, whereas using electricity from a wind turbine doesn’t. At the risk of forcing a utilitarian agenda, you might also argue that we should be seeking to conserve the energy that we create regardless of its source, too.
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Of course governments should bring vehicle size and mass into the (tax) equation. The bigger and heavier the EV, the bigger the costly battery needs to be, the more governments are being blackmailed into subsidizing EVs. Do people realize that cars nowadays are as wide as the usually single occupant (the driver) is tall? Not a very efficient way of auto-mobility: to have the driver lie across the road, move sideways. The battery's intrinsically low energy-density should bring carmakers to look for lighter alternatives.