Electric Vehicles: The White Elephant That Belongs in the Zoo!

Do not, I repeat, DO NOT, throw away your driving or motorcycle gloves for the sake of driving an electric vehicle.

Electric vehicles are simply a quick fix to the current system. Yes okay, we are all going to have to use less energy which could also arguably include using less plastic junk and being more rational with our everyday vehicle usage. But, electric vehicles are not the answer! Electric vehicle development still belongs in the laboratory and we need to find better ways to store and refuel electricity.

Most of the latest electric cars can do about 85 miles an hour. But, for a range of only about 90 miles and an eight-hour recharge. One lap at the Isle of Man TT and an electric bike is flat! How could you watch that? How could you even justify the action of pulling on a pair of leather motorcycle gloves to do that? The sight of a racing bike leaning into a sweeper without the characteristic sound of accelerating internal combustion power is completely incomprehensible. Sacrilege even! No, only when something better is invented, is it time to develop serious bikes and cars.

Despite their ‘green’ image, electric vehicles are less efficient and more polluting than petrol ones they want to replace. They are not very ‘green’ at all. They are ‘white’ and they are elephants! The electric vehicle craze is no more than a craze. Let’s be honest, the only race an electric bike will ever win is against another. How dull is that? Forget the protective clothing and motorbike gloves…it’d be slower than watching lawnmowers race, or turtles! Why? Because batteries are heavy and inefficient.

Don’t kid yourself by sitting in the ‘electric bike crowd’ and think that by doing so, you are doing your ecological, environmental and ideological best for society. The planet will still warm! Despite what most people believe, a high percentage of the world’s electricity is produced using ‘dirty fuels’ like oil and coal. And this is NOT going to change anytime soon. In fact, the more electric vehicles that are produced, the more the world will rely on ‘dirty fuels’ to keep up with increasing demand for electricity. And another interesting fact for you to ponder is this. Even with silly government subsidies, electric vehicles are all priced higher than their petrol or diesel equivalents.

Electrics as a first car or bike is useless. Sure, you can commute in or on one, but as soon as the weather drops and you flick on the car heater and your range halves to about 30 miles, your likelihood of being stranded on the freeway during peak hour doubles. The answer, commute in your petrol equivalent and do everything else too, at any time, over any distance. Don’t spend all day getting to work!

Pull on your motorcycle gloves for one reason… common sense.

Rabins Sharma Lamichhane

Rabins Sharma Lamichhane is senior ICT professional who talks about #it, #cloud, #servers, #software, and #innovation. Rabins is also the first initiator of Digital Nepal. Facebook: rabinsxp Instagram: rabinsxp

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