The Warmists' Electric Car Crashes !

Electric cars were the wet-dream of the global warming believers. As the Greenies insisted,  ''Around the world electric vehicles (EVs) are beginning to transform the way we move....EVs, along with increased investment in public transport, are central to meeting the twin challenges of climate change and energy security.''

Warmist politicians - as usual - threw taxpayer-funded subsidies at this latest green scheme and drew up grand plans. Take deluded U.S. President Barack Obama. In his first term, Obama propped up battery makers with grants and aced like a venture capitalist with nearly $1 billion in loans to electric car startups Fisker and Tesla. He loaned Nissan $1.6 billion to build electric cars in the U.S.

In Britain:  The Committee on Climate Change, the U.K. government watchdog, has called for the number of electric cars on Britain's roads to increase from a few hundred now to 1.7 million by 2020. Britain's Department for Transport is spending $66 million over the next year giving up to 8,600 buyers of electric cars a grant of $7700 towards the purchase price.

Around Australia:  The Gillard Government, under the influence of the Greens Party, is also leading a work program to ensure Australia's energy markets are ready to support the potential large-scale adoption of electric vehicles and related technologies.
          The State of Victoria:  The Victorian government's electric vehicle trial....is being held in the expectation that Victorians will switch to electric cars in their thousands in coming years, even though the number currently is use is only 100 or so.
          The City of Sydney:  The city council has announced a tender for up to 12 new electric car charging stations to be installed across Sydney next year. Never mind that the Green argument didn't actually stack up. However, a study has shown electric cars could produce higher emissions over their lifetimes than petrol equivalents because of the energy consumed in making their batteries.

Never mind that the Green movement's argument for electric cars was particularly insane in Australia. A climate scientist attests, ''Victoria's dependence on brown coal for energy is so high that any electric car that ran off the electricity grid would generate even more carbon emissions than one running on petrol.''  It's a clear example of one green policy didn't know what the other green policy was doing!

''One in 10 cars may be electric by 2020 although the take-up in Australia would be slower due to the carbon tax,'' claims Nissan. That carbon tax is ''small potatoes'' when compared to the main reasons. What consumers did mind was the cost of this Greens-backed car and its small range. The slow global up-take of EVs has been mirrored in Australia, with only 18 sold privately and 45 sold to the government and business sectors. But while many blame high prices from $49,000-$59,000 even the  cries for more subsidies - that lifeblood of global warmists - cannot save the electric car. Big car makers are winding down their big plans. A spokesman for one Japanese automaker said, ''The electric car is still not ready for prime time....and maybe never.''

Warmist politicians are crabwalking away from their over-ambitious plans, without quite admitting it. When asked about the Obama administration's 1 million car goal (by 2015), Energy Secretary Steven Chu was noncommittal. ''It was ambitious, but we'll see what happens,'' he said to Reuters last week. Careful to not be seen as a failure, the Energy Department preempted Chu's comment by noting that it's more important to start a program than to spend time on a number.

The Way I See It....even the car visionaries are giving the electric car its last rites. I've read that, Takeshi Uchiyamada,  the ''father-of-the-Prius'' who helped put hybrids on the map, said he believes fuel-cell vehicles hold far more promise than battery electric cars. He firmly stated, ''Because of its shortcomings.....driving range, cost and recharging time, the electric vehicle is not a viable replacement for most conventional cars.  We need something entirely new.''  I guess that means more taxpayer-funded subsidies....sic!  This has been a sorry tale of Green carpetbagging and the dangers of politicians, armed with your money, deciding they can see the future -- a future they can't distinguish from their dreams.