In article , GB
writes
On 16/03/2017 11:30, Chris Hogg wrote:

But we're not a million miles apart. The key point is that one can't
just switch over to an all-electric transport system simply by
plugging in ones car into the socket in the garage to charge it
overnight on the assumption that the electricity is always available,
which I'm sure a lot of people imagine will happen. We're on a knife
edge with electrical supplies in winter as it is, and any increase in
consumption without a corresponding increase in supply and
distribution facilities will just not work.


I'm sure that's right. There may be some overall saving in fuel and
hence pollution, as power stations are more thermodynamically efficient
than ICEs. (Actually, I'm just assuming that, so I'll wait to be
engulfed in flames.)

However, we don't need to build lots of power stations just yet. At
least, not for that reason. At Dec-2016, we had 90,000 electric
vehicles on the road, out of a total of around 37 million licensed
vehicles. So, it's not exactly happening overnight.
But as with LPG the supply infrastructure has to be in place to persuade
the consumer to make the switch - then as with LPG the greedy government
comes along with its tax talons and screws up the whole thing.
--
bert