KIWI RIDER MARCH 2021 VOL1 | Page 83

a petrol-driven chunk of Japanese automotive technology and will not veer any other way . But hey , don ’ t get me wrong , electric vehicles are being honed as time goes by and they will continue to be a viable means of transport . Viable , except for the cost of the things new off the show floor . I reckon this is where petroldriven machines will get a second wind . They ’ ll be cheap , so they make the cut when budgets are drawn up . The second-hand car yards will be a buyer ’ s Mecca . I also have no stoush with any plans to clean the place up . To clear the air , clear the rivers and the landscapes , as this is our home and we want it to be comfortable to live in . But hey , I think we ’ ve got enough trees sprouting about out there , and the factoryrunning chaps are pretty clued up in seeing emission levels down . Not so in places like Russia , China and India … where the blue skies
are bleached with smears of dark yellow . On a clear night in Shanghai you can see a faint full moon but no stars . There are also factories across the US and parts of Europe that hurl unwanted smoke and fumes out , and discard unwanted by-products any way they like . They have any such devout “ save our planet ” plans like we are set to have ? Nope . We have to do what we can , but at the end of the day you have to stand back and watch megmanufacturing plants in mega-lands barely batting an eyelid . So , ban new petrol cars in a decade ’ s time and build an atomic power station or three to create enough power to service a massive fleet of electric vehicles ( because they ’ ll need a hell of a lot more power that we can produce now ) and I ’ ll do my bit . Before I take a ride on my ageing bike I ’ ll get tidied up … I ’ ll get the electric razor out .