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True Costs of Running an Electric Car

Posted on 30th June 2014

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This BBC story describes how the cost of running and electric car will rise, because the UK government is reducing subsidies. Free charging at at all public power points is to be withdrawn.

An odd decision, given that we have a growing environmental crisis, and the current official position (which does, admittedly, have some flaws) is that electric vehicles are more environmentally friendly than diesel or petrol driven ones.

The reason why bad policy decisions like this are made is two-fold: the UK government has an almost zealous commitment to free market economics, and the relative running costs of electric versus conventional vehicles do not represent true costs.

The true costs of conventional vehicles include the immediate and deferred damage to the environment, and thus to health, and the using up of dwindling supplies of fossil fuels. All the while that these costs are not passed on to the relevant consumers, any arguments based on economics are flawed, and in fact downright dishonest

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So please, let's either level the playing field, or just forget the economic arguments.