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PAC report on EV charging network rollout
RESPONDING to a Public Accounts Committee report about supporting the country’s transition to electric vehicles,
Cllr Adam Hug, transport spokesperson for the Local Government Association, said:- "Councils continue to play an important role in supporting the national transition to electric vehicles and keeping the EV charge point rollout on track. As this report confirms, there is much more to be done in ensuring wider availability of the charging network and the Government’s ongoing investment into local authority capability is helpful. There are many factors for Councils to consider on public charge points, such as demand for road space, power supply availability, demand for EVs and resources available. Sufficient and long term Government funding is vital for Councils to maintain progress on the rollout, especially against the significant pressures on statutory Council services." But should we be focusing on Electric Vehicals? Hydrogen is far safer and environmentally friendly in the long run. EV supporters often don't factor in the costs, both financial and environmental, from the materials required to upgrade the electrical network, upgrade homes electrical circuits, the installation of charge points, the extremely high electrical demands leading to more power production requirements and all the cost and materials that will require. Then you have the limitations of the valuable and limited amounts of many of the required materials. The shipping of the raw earth materials. Plus, you have disposal and recycling issues of all the EV waste. Then you have the fact that, like computers and mobiles, owners will probably be forced to consider they will have to scrap the cars rather than sell them on, as they will not get software support etc. That is just the start... You also have major issues with accidents from electric shock issues, battery fires that can't be put out, and more... Should we look at hydrogen? Already, other countries, including Japan, are developing hydrogen stations for cars, not just large trucks and buses? It could also make tax for motoring far simpler and make up for the losses of tax from petrol sales. Plus, the costs of household electrical bills will go up to cover the rise in demand to covet the growing electrical supply requirements. When you factor in heatpumps, more and more electrical devices are needed for day to day lives. Do we really need even more pressure on the network? What are your thoughts about the UK's policy of pushing EV powered and overlooking hydrogen as an alternative fuel to petrol and diesel? There are 2 main types: a purely H2-fuelled vehicle and a hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV). While the former runs solely on hydrogen, so retains the familiarity of an ICE vehicle, the latter powers an electric motor using hydrogen. These are just a few of the Hydrogen cars already available globally...
Oddly only 2 hydrogen-powered cars available in the UK: the Toyota Mirai and the Hyundai Nexo SUV that we are aware of.
The down side is currently the UK only has 16 hydrogen refuelling stations (HRS) across the country, only 6 of them open to the public compared with over 30,000 EV charging stations available to the public. Why is the UK so slow? Better milage, better environmental footprint, better for taxing and.... Should we ditch the push to EV and wake up to cheaper and safer Hydrogen vehicles? COMMENTS (0)
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