Isn’t it time we gave up on the fantasy of Electric Vehicles?

Net zero, decarbonisation and electric vehicles are just an example of words that we hear hither and thither, thrown at us, from governments to NGOs, until we are blue in the face. Part of the population couldn’t care less and the other part, through their over-politicising, have destroyed the genuine goodness that could've risen from these concepts. We have strayed too far away from constructive criticism and, like Ophelia, have fallen, and find ourselves drowned into sensational activism.  

The rise in this frenzy surrounding electric vehicles is a direct consequence of this sensational activism.  We are all aware that the UK is on an ambitious road to ban the sale of all combustion engine vehicles by 2030, which means our streets will be flooded with EVs within the next 10-20 years. While everyone is quick to hail this as formidable policy, no one is talking about the very real negative impacts that EVs have on our environment.  

The first issue is the ecological disaster in producing the batteries that these vehicles rely on. The extraction of lithium and nickel from the earth is far from being green and is an energy intensive process. Furthermore, its impact on the surrounding biodiversity is permanent — ground stabilisation, loss of water in surrounding areas, pollution of rivers, and an increase in soil toxicity. In Indonesia, nickel mining has led to people suffering from skin conditions because of the toxicity in water, their children have developed lung infections and fishermen have loss their livelihoods because of the pollution it has caused in surrounding water bodies.  

We tend to look at EVs as a finished product, without factoring in the production process and the running of those cars in their lifetime, which brings me to our second issue; generating a clean source of energy for these cars to run on. The recent war in Ukraine has shown us our vulnerability, for we simply do not have the capacity to produce an uninterrupted supply of energy.

Every country needs to consider the energy trilemma when setting out its energy policies, that of energy security, affordability, and sustainability. In the UK, at present, we are failing on all 3 fronts, but still setting out policies favouring EVs when our energy reserve margins doesn’t meet demand. EVs become superfluous to what we are trying to achieve (net zero) if our sources of energy are not clean. Speaking in an American context, green venture capitalist Vinod Khosla has said: “Electric cars are coal powered cars”. And while we may not use coal in this country, but the reality is not that different. 

It is the consequence of a failure by successive governments to put in place policies that are both practical and lasting. Of course the first culprit is the Brown government, which enacted the Climate Change Act [2008] setting out that we will achieve net zero by 2050. The left has often claimed a monopoly on the issue of climate change, and Labour, in an attempt to give the ecological zealots what they want, came up with this law. But what real policies have been set out to achieve this, besides hundreds of taxes on corporations that, in reality, achieve very little since for the most part we have carried on business as usual?  

The governments that have followed in the 15 years since have not done anything either, and as a Conservative, I find it disappointing that Conservative governments have resolved to the same sort of pandering to ecological extremists. Like giving a child some sweets to stop them from crying, instead of sticking to principles and protecting businesses in this country by setting up the necessary framework to enable an energy transition.  

What is more, and perhaps to my surprise, the biggest problem regarding EVs is the one no one is talking about. This country’s electrical grid does not have the technological/logistical capacity to deal with a surplus in electricity consumption. This means that we may replace all traditional cars with EVs and increase the amount of charging ports across the country yet they would be to no avail. No power would come through! Yet the electrification of Britain continues, such as through the replacement of gas boilers with heat pumps and what is worrying is that there are no announced proposals by the government to increase our grid capacity. Add EVs into the equation and we will be facing an energy crisis perhaps greater than the one we find ourselves in now.  

The reason is because our politicians have become deluded. This issue has become so politicised that we are doing things that will ultimately lead to our own destruction, only to indulge what Suella Braverman calls: “Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati”. A group of radical zealots, aloof to the practical concepts of how the world works, clueless about climate change, and who, ironically, have  ittle to no understanding of an energy transition. 

Climate change is a real issue, I do not deny it. It is true that it is a global crisis and we must all do our bit, but it’s unfair for the UK, contributing to just about 1% of total global greenhouse gas emissions, to put in place policies that will affect the lives of Britons up and down the country, when a country like India emits a whopping 7% of global emissions and cannot commit to any change in direction. Energy sustainability is a must, but it must be done from an anthropocentric angle, for our people.

So are electric vehicles a fantasy? Is it time we gave that fantasy up? I think the answer to that is yes… at least for the time being. If we are to mitigate climate change there are far more practical steps we can take. We must first invest in renewable, clean sources of energy. Give nuclear energy a chance. Upgrade our infrastructure at the grassroots and work our way up. Scrap superficial policies that only scratch the surface to please a few. See that our working people are important when discussing the environment and not as cannon-fodder, mere numbers in a system. Equip workers in the oil and gas field with transferable skill sets that will help in sustainable employment and build an economic system that will ensure the British people are the ultimate winners of an energy transition.  

Electrical vehicles are only accessories, the watch you fasten on your wrist after getting dressed. I’m afraid, at the point where we stand today… we haven’t even got our pants on.