Electric vehicles (EVs) will be affected by weak electricity grids during power-rationing and inadequate sustainable energy alternatives.
With many reports coming out of Australia and overseas of poor mileage performance and lengthy charging times, it spells disaster for long haul truckies, farmers, distribution operations, and far-west and outback properties.
Unlike in the suspiciously-quiet Australia media, in an article from the United States, this concern is being openly discussed.
“[Agricultural equipment can be used] up to 15 hours a day for many days on end,” Ohio University’s Miller said. “It does a farm producer no good if the battery runs out in the middle of a 1,000-acre field.”
If batteries provide only about 15% of the energy that a full tank of diesel does, “you’re still going to have to stop six or seven times a day,” to swap out batteries.
Additionally the weight of electric heavy vehicles compacts the soil, which in turn can render the land in which it is run over, useless.
Further financial strain for our non-corporate Farmers
The cost of migrating to electric vehicles, electric trucks, electric tractors and harvesting equipment is prohibitive for most farmers, especially those who have struggled through droughts and floods.
Many farmers are also exploited by big supermarkets and restaurants, and others have the banks breathing down their necks ready to swoop in like vultures to repossess the farms.
Alongside the financial concerns of replacing all farm equipment over the next ten years, there is the added stress of fines if they do not meet Net Zero targets.
Many farms will close their gates (which will reduce produce available to the population), and the rise in additional costs will be passed on to the public. We will see huge increases in the price of food, which is already bordering on extortionate.
Is the electric vehicle really the answer for agriculture? The challenge will be how farmers will manage the dawn to dusk requirements of an EV. Read more here.
Outback and Far West
If you have ever travelled into Far-West and outback NSW and our other states, the realisation of just how far everything is away from everything hits you hard when you run out of fuel or charge.
Neighbours can be more than a few hours drive away. Farmers and their families rely on dependable vehicles to access essentials.
They cannot afford to be breaking down hours away from anything on isolated roads in dangerous conditions.
Not only do farmers need reliable long range vehicles, but so do services such as road-based outback mobile units (i.e., social services and mobile preschools that can cover 220,000 square kms on each trip).
Rurally-isolated families rely on these essential services. How are electric vehicles going to manage such high-mileage in those vast and isolated areas?
Electric vehicles and the grid they rely on are unreliable and downright UNSAFE. Over 1000 Tesla's were recalled recently over major safety concerns.
It appears they have been rushed through before they are proven to be a safe option. One can ponder, if this is occurring with passenger cars, what issues are happening with larger vehicles that we don't hear about.
And how can we and farmers rely on inefficient equipment to get produce from farm to plate to feed the country?
A Fleet of Electric delivery trucks funded by the government, has rolled out in Western Sydney, with '$20Million of our money given to their mates' as one comment rightly pointed out. Will we get to see how they perform or will the poor productivity be hidden from public eyes?
Read more about the disadvantages of Electric Vehicles by Auto Evolution.
Tesla had an electric car back about 1930 that never needed charging, he had a device in the glove box that kept the battery continuously charged(those old lead acid batteries)
when these numb skulls wipe out all of the carbon, they will wipe out all plant life on earth. The great barrier reef is built be coral polyps, little creatures that take carbon out of the water, mix it with a solution in their bodies and produce limestone. When the oceans lack enough carbon the oceans absorb the carbon from the air. A bloody old 1950 model diesel land rover is looking more attractive every day.