There is no doubt a 'need' for some of these vehicles. However the fact they top the list of purchased vehicles last year both position 1 and 2 shows that many people that do not need them are purchasing them. And like I said earlier, you just have to attend school pickup, drive on freeway in peak, etc, to see these vehicles being driven by a solo driver with nothing being towed and little to nothing in the tray. That means people with too much spare cash are buying them and adding to the carbon footprint, simple as that, it all adds up.
Gas power is necessary as a stop gap to nuclear, it reduces carbon output by a factor or 2 to 3, probably closer to 3 times greener for Victoria because of brown coal baseload.
Sorry but not being able to pollute the planet by cutting back on excessive lifestyle use of fossil fuels is part of the hard yards. Same as it's uncool now to go around shooting wildlife for pleasure. Victoria could easily have switched to gas on a lot of levels 30 years ago, from road transport to power generation to many other things, but we still burn Brown coal, because it's easy. They even toyed with turning brown coal into gas to make it greener for burning (and more efficient), ie gas burns hotter and cleaner per unit than coal so not just greener but better bang for buck.
There is nothing better about a ICU road vehicle than an electric one. ICU requires gearboxes, drivetrain, weight distribution is determined by cumbersome mechanical features, higher CoG, meaning worse cornering and road handling, delayed power transmission due to fuel input and drivetrain lag. Electric vehicles can have the CoG very low and evenly distributed meaning better balance, less roll, better cornering and road handling, instant power with easy distribution of power to each wheel, each engine can be in the wheel itself meaning no drive train, recovery of energy through braking, and so many other things.
Also for towing electric is far better, higher torque with power distribution to each wheel individually, not real issues with higher engine load. Ie towing anything reduces the life of your ICU engine due to increased load within it. You could even link the trailer with motors so it's wheels add to tractive power and regenerative braking.
Last edited by 43Inches; 26th May 2022 at 01:21.