What the Swiss EV driving ban means for Australia
A salient warning to the rest of the world, courtesy of the crazy Swiss busily demonstrating to ambient humanity the pitfalls of poor EV strategy...
This is a bit of a warning for joints like Australia, at least philosophically, although we would never be in this same position.
According to the newspaper Spiegel.de, Switzerland could be the first country to impose driving bans on electric vehicles in proposed emergency measures aimed at ensuring energy security this winter.
Swiss media are reporting on a draft regulation imposing restrictions and bans on the use of electrical energy, specifically…
the private use of electric cars is only permitted for absolutely necessary journeys. For example, professional practice, shopping, visiting the doctor, attending religious events, attending court appointments.
A stricter speed limit is also planned for highways.
Most of the electricity in Switzerland comes from hydropower. However, the country also imports electricity from Germany and France.
If there are bottlenecks, there electricity could also become scarce in Switzerland energy security in Europe is considered endangered because of the Russian war of aggression against the Ukraine. Many countries are therefore preparing for an energy emergency the restrictions on EVs are only intended for level three restrictions.
Before that, other austerity measures would take effect in private households. Washing machines, for example, should then only run at a maximum of 40 degrees C. Leaf blowers, patio heaters, seat heaters in chair lifts may not be operated. And videos from streaming services should only be shown in SD (standard definition) resolution.
- Spiegel.de
It doesn't sound like it might be the most fun white Christmas ever in Switzerland, does it? That report can be found here >>
Frankly, this is what happens when countries rush headlong into some kind of new technology, for example electric vehicles, without getting the integration right. If you are going to rush into the adoption of electric vehicles, it'd be nice if we had a rock-solid solution for where that electricity was coming from.
This is quite important because once the population gets on-board and starts adopting the technology, they're unlikely to be receptive to messages of having it rescinded, restricted or made redundant. Not being allowed to access that fuel you're expecting to come out of the wall for your shiny new EV, is not going to sit well.
In this case, it's an energy security problem which, granted, we don't really have that problem here in Australia, due to our endless coal. Hypothetically we could generate endless electricity for all of the EV driving that we need to do.
But by the same token, props to the Albanese government for actually passing some legislation on the Treasury Laws Amendment (Electric Car Discount) Bill 2022 >> and they're going to backdate it to July, 2022. Effectively that means that if you use a novated lease to put your EV in the driveway then if it's an electric car under the luxury car tax threshold you're going to be able to do that without incurring any fringe benefits tax liability.
There's still not enough action out here in ambient Australian society about how we're going to upgrade the poles and the wires (the grid) to make sure that when 50 per cent of the houses in your street are charging up an EV overnight you don’t all end up in a blackout because you’ve either overloaded the nearest substation or simply trip the nearest transformer box.
Let's not forget that's how we do this process. You come home from work or wherever you've been all day, you get your phone and plug it in, whip out your laptop and plug it in, and any other devices that warrant recharging, like the car at 50 or 60 per cent. The problem with this, obviously, is that the poles and the wires won't cope.
But sure, The Greens have a ‘plan’ for electric vehicles >>
Then there’s the problem you’ll face at this time of year, which will only get worse when electric cars start proliferating the driveways and garages in your street. When you’re on Christmas holidays, everybody wants to head off somewhere in broadly the same time period - everyone decides to go on some pilgrimage to Queensland or Bonnie Doon or Perth or to visit relatives in some far-flung hotspot up or down the coast. Roadtripping in your electric vehicle - what could go wrong?
Where are we all going to charge up? All of those one million electric vehicles promised on the road by 2027 >> will be waiting in endless queues on major arterial highways, waiting to use the public charging station while some family shovels a nondescript burger and fries in their gob.
At the moment the logistics of travelling and recharging en route in regional Australia are fucked.
California has rushed headlong into the adoption of EVs, because they're so fricken woke. An audit of all of their public chargers found that at any given time, roughly a third of them are down. Either broken, faulty, being repaired or simply deactivated.
The uptime is just not there because there’s been no plan worked out, no concerted effort or collaboration, just market self-interest and making-it-up-along-the-way. Australia could be about to make the same short-sighted mistakes.
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