Ah, we have a Tesla S at work (4 years now) and we used to have a BMW i3 as well (3 years).
We got rid of the i3 earlier this year. It was hopeless. Nobody liked it one little bit.
Most of us quite like the Tesla S. But none of us would buy one for ourselves.
Anyway, back to the cost of power stations, assuming that we all do (or are forced to) change our lifestyles to include e-cars, trolley buses and electricity to heat our homes.
BTW, with a degree in civil engineering, I would look forward to a generation of designing and building power stations ! I just need an idea of how many !
.
@Don - you are right. HMG, and indeed other governments, cannot surrender such a significant and easy-to-collect source of revenue. The answer will be road-pricing. This can be done with the technology already appearing in vehicles. The challenge will be the politics involved and the practicality of the transition from the existing taxation system to a new one.
I was discussing this just the other day with Mrs D. She would like to replace the C Class with an E Class estate. She will go for a diesel.
It will take time for e-cars to become the norm, and a bit of political/incentivisation/bribery-persuasion will also be needed. But the end result will also require rectifying the potential deficit of £40bn pa to the Treasury. I suggested Tracking devices and automatic billing based on road occupancy, will become the norm.
I agree, @Don. I also suspect that, in addition to preserving and sustaining the revenue income, the government will use such a system to influence motorists’ behaviour so as to reduce congestion. For example, charging premium rates for, say, school runs, access roads to airports at peak times and so on. Such a system would provide new policy options for government to play. It won’t just be about money/tax.
Oh, and to think that (in the UK at least) the E-cars could have had green number plates and the possibility of free parking in local council car parks, had the project kept going! (News item, 22/10/19)
The idea of the govt being able to track vehicles location minute by minute for the purposes of road pricing throws up all sorts of civil rights issues. The ultimate surveillance society? Will law enforcement have automatic rights to the data?
They’ll be able to make up the £40bn by speeding fines alone…
I think the systems have already been trialled. A few years ago, a company with whom I had worked alongside, Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick, did quite a bit of work, the conclusion being that tracking was a revenue-winning practicallity. The only outstanding element being the politics !
