We can’t get politicians to sit in the back of Toyota Prius hybrid cars -- the trial ended when pollies complained and went back to their V6 and V8 Holden Statesman limousines -- but the rest of Canberra is poised to become a test bed for a new electric car scheme.
The global consortium called Better Place will commence construction on battery exchange terminals in 2011 ready for customer use in 2012, it was announced this week.
Better Place is involved with joint car makers Nissan and Renault, who have developed an electric vehicle whose large battery pack can be replaced in less than five minutes, about the same time it takes to refuel a petrol car.
In the Better Place example, cars are driven over a docking station and the battery pack mounted under the car is automatically removed and replaced by robotic movement.
The swap stations are designed to overcome one of the hurdles of electric cars -- driving range.
However, there are a number of hurdles: car makers can’t agree on a common size for wheel nuts, so how will they agree to the same battery pack design?
Further, experts believe electric cars will typically be used mainly in city and inner urban areas, and long distance driving -- and, therefore, battery exchange points -- is not a priority.
The electric cars being developed by Subaru and Mitsubishi have a range of between 90km and 140km respectively, and both can be fully recharged from a household powerpoint in eight hours, or to 80 per cent capacity with a fast charger in 30 to 45 minutes.
Range-extending hybrid cars (that is, hybrid cars with larger battery capacity than normal) are expected to have a driving range of 1000km -- without the need to have their batteries replaced while on the run.
Israel is the first location for the Better Place scheme as the troublespot tries to drastically reduce its demand for foreign oil from its hostile neighbours. Denmark, which is one of the world leaders in wind energy, is the second test market.
Canberra is next on the "to do" list before a roll out in other Australian capital cities.
Better Place wants to set up in Australia because the company believes our combination of vast landscape and densely populated urbanised areas make it the ideal test bed for the world’s most lucrative market: North America.
"The mass adoption of [electric vehicles] in Australia is inevitable because consumers clearly want the superior environmental and economic benefits that EVs deliver," said Evan Thornley, CEO of Better Place Australia.
Experts believe up to 10 per cent of new cars sold in 2020 will be electric-only vehicles.
But they are widely accepted as not being the sole solution. It is expected that electric cars will mainly be used for city commuting, range-extended hybrids will be used for longer journeys, while heavy vehicles such as trucks and buses will likely be powered by bio diesel and/or hydrogen.
"There is no one magic bullet," says Toyota North America’s head of research into future technology, Bill Reinert. "Motorists will have a choice, depending on what suits their needs."
Electric cars are billed as "zero emissions" vehicles, but there are still the emissions from energy production to take into account.
To truly have the green car we need electricity to be created using solar, wind or wave power.
General Motors’ former technology expert, Larry Burns, told journalists on a visit to Australia last year: "Australia is ideally placed for clean energy, but for now you’re almost totally dependent on coal-fired power stations, and that’s far worse than the emissions from a tailpipe."
Burns also said the internal combustion engine "isn’t going anywhere".
"There are 800 million cars and trucks in the world, so the internal combustion engine is here to stay," he said. "Bio fuels will ensure [the internal combustion] is around for a while yet."
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