Ed, I assume with regard to EU protectionism you're refering to the rules of origin stating that 55% of a car must be manufactured in the UK or EU if it's imported from the UK into the EU? That will presumably only affect the UK negatively; if necessary vehicle manufacturers can shift production to an EU plant to avoid any import taxes and, looking at the list of EU candidate countries, the scope for manufacturing locations will widen over the next decade?Yes, as EV production ramps up the total cost of ownership: purchase (or, more likely lease) costs + lifetime maintenance should be less thanan ICE, except that the cost of replacement batteries still hasn't (to my knowledge) been fully assessed. (That might make leasing from a manufacturer preferable as that may then become their problem? The actuaries can worry about that?)Range limitation can be alleviated as more charging points are added, charging speeds increase and battery technology improves. However, the issue is the grid infrastructure to, one, supply the power to new charging stations, particularly in remote locations; two, collect power from new solar and wind farm generation points which may be significant distances from existing grid transmission lines. Nothing insurmountable except I've not seen or heard about a government strategy, plan and investment to make it happen when it's needed- which is NOW?Yes, obviously, public transport is another part of the strategy and investment programme, although one could look at some Europe models of integrated transport policies where the idea is you book a package of a rail ticket for long distance travel and then pickup a car - for example, a Zipcar - to drive the final few miles to ones destination. (It's going to be an interesting decade or two - or three - but I'm just hoping I'm still around to see some of the recent space missions launched or planned start sending data back! I've lost my interest in cars i had when I was younger )...
Michael Ixer ● 601d