I believe that the government made a bad decision when they chose to electrify cars rather than the roads.
High costs, high maintenance, high depreciation, low range, lack of charging stations etc etc make the future of electric cars bleak. It could have been so much better.
Here is an extract from my novel, 'The Lamb at Nettlesham', which proposes a happier outcome.
The
predicted massive increase in the use of private cars will cause the
complete seizure of the country’s road capacity by early next
century. The Green Paper will address those problems and set out a
new strategy to satisfy the nation’s need for mobility in the
future, whilst keeping expenditure on infrastructure and its
maintenance to a minimum. As we proceed, we will have to bear in mind
the need to find alternative and more efficient fuels as the global
supply of oil diminishes.
Private
Transport.
As
the nation’s wealth increases so more and more citizens will own
and run more cars. It is simply unfeasible to keep building more and
larger roads to accommodate this trend. It is proposed therefore that
by 2025, all private, freewheeling, transport will be outlawed.
Instead, people will be able to own private ‘pods’ that will run
on a network of rails driven by electricity.
Pods.
The
same manufacturers that now produce automobiles will make these. They
will be constructed so as to run on the network but can be designed
to all the usual formats and standards as at present. That is the
number of seats and degree of luxury can be as varied as it is now,
including drink cabinets as drink driving is avoided.
Pods
will be fitted with batteries and wheels so that it can move from
one’s home, say, to the nearest hub. Once there it will engage with
the network by means of an undercarriage arrangement, which also
initiates the payment system. Once engaged, one simply inserts the
postcode of the destination and press go. The pod is taken
automatically by the most efficient route to your destination and you
are billed for each trip on ‘a per distance travelled’ basis.
Network.
The
network is to be designed jointly by all the motor manufacturing
companies who will own and run it. It is to be designed so that it
will operate along converted highways and move pods along at a speed
consistent with the status of the original road. For example, on old
motorways it will be expected that the pods will be propelled to up
to 200 mph, automatically maintained at a safe distance from each
other. On an original three lane motorway there will be room for six
pod lanes.
As
the pods move from higher tariff roads to lower, the speeds will be
reduced accordingly.
The
design of this network will begin immediately and new legislation
will be introduced to compel all manufacturers to contribute to the
transition or risk losing a license to sell their vehicles.
The
electricity to run the network will be provided by a new and safer
generation of nuclear power stations.
Commercial
Transport
All
containers will be loaded onto larger flat bed pods at special
network hubs located at railway marshalling works. The railways will
be converted into the new rail system. Once at the destination, the
containers will be collected by battery driven vehicles for delivery
to the recipients whether factory or shop. The layout of future
trading estates and shopping centres will need to bear in mind these
changes.