Planning – Industrial Technology Systems ’ business development director Mark Taylor reckons more joined-up thinking is needed to improve EV infrastructure .
PICTURE : TOM BANKS
Joined-up thinking needed for a bright EV future
GREEN APPEAL
Mark Taylor , business development director at Middlesbroughbased Industrial Technology Systems ( ITS ), questions just how advanced ( and green ) the UK ’ s EV infrastructure is …
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B arely a day goes by without mention of electric vehicles ( EV ) in the news , social media , or emails . It ’ s an emotive and quite divisive topic .
Certainly , there is a level of appeal that everyone warms too – zero emissions ( at the point of use ), which is good for the air quality in and around our cities and public spaces , especially for our future generations . But do we really have a joined-up energy policy when it comes to green transport ?
Undoubtedly , zero emissions at the point of use sounds good . However , it is the wider picture and full lifecycle we must consider .
We all know that energy can neither be created nor destroyed . This means that the energy to charge our clean cars must come from somewhere . Since the UK still has a large amount of electricity generated from fossil fuels , then our electric cars are not as green as we would like to think .
Our generation and distribution network cannot cope with our needs if we move to an all-electric charging system ( forgetting about public transport , trucks , and ships etc ). It takes a few minutes to fill an average car with fuel , and hours to charge an EV . We already complain about the queues at petrol stations now , so there would have to be notable change to both generation and distribution for the electricity required to meet demand .
To have a generating system – and a network able to support delivery and charging facilities needed to replace all the petrol stations – would be mindbogglingly expensive and disruptive , not something anyone could easily contemplate