Essay by Eric Worrall
“FCAI’s members selling dirty, inefficient cars into Australia well into the 2040s is not an option”. But there is a legitimate reason Aussies tend to drive heavy duty vehicles.
CLIMATE COUNCIL CALLS FOR AUTO PEAK BODY TO STOP “BLOCKING THE ROAD” AHEAD OF EV SUMMIT
18.08.22 BY CLIMATE COUNCIL
AHEAD OF TOMORROW’S Electric Vehicle Summit in Canberra, the Climate Council is asking the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) to clear a path for fuel efficiency standards that will save Australians money and lower emissions.
Dr Jennifer Rayner, Climate Council Head of Advocacy, said: “Last year, Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) member firms Toyota, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Volkswagen, Honda, Hyundai, Nissan and Volvo sold over half a million new cars into the Australian market. Most of those were dirtier and less efficient than the cars they sell overseas.
“Australians are left paying the price for that dirty transport fleet many times over. We pay at the petrol pump because less efficient cars guzzle more fuel and we pay in rising transport pollution, which is fueling climate change and harming our health.”
“The FCAI must arrive at the Electric Vehicle Summit with a stronger plan for fuel efficiency standards that prioritise and protect Australians over their own profits.”
“FCAI’s members selling dirty, inefficient cars into Australia well into the 2040s is not an option if we want to achieve the deep emissions cuts needed this decade to avoid the worst effects of climate change.
…
Read more: https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/resources/calls-for-auto-peak-body-stop-blocking-road-ahead-of-ev-summit/
Vehicles are already pretty close to maximum theoretical efficiency, so the only way automobile manufacturers can significantly increase fleet efficiency is to remove consumer choice, to remove the choice of buying heavy vehicles with larger engines, either by simply discontinuing those models, or pricing them out of the market.
But there are good reasons why Australians choose to drive heavy duty vehicles. Aside from the need to tow heavy loads, outside big cities and a handful of major motorways, most of Australia’s roads are little better than dirt tracks.
Add to this the deadly risk of hitting kangaroos, especially around dawn and dusk, and you can see why Australians tend to choose large, heavy vehicles which can handle the roads and keep drivers and passengers safe from collisions with wild animals.
For some reason some people in the USA have the idea that Kangaroos are an endangered species, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Kangaroos are everywhere, they are a significant agricultural pest and a road hazard.
I currently drive a light SUV, but my next vehicle will be a four wheel drive light truck with a big bull bar. Two years ago I was almost one of those kangaroo statistics, thankfully I swerved at the last moment, and the kangaroo jumped the opposite direction, so I got away with a few thousand dollars worth of panel repair, rather than a head on collision with a hundred pound animal. Kangaroo fur is almost perfect camouflage, especially around dawn or dusk when they are most active, and Kangaroos have absolutely no road sense, so they are almost impossible to see until it is too late. Even city dwellers are at risk from collision, Kangaroos frequently sneak into towns and cities searching for food.
The poor roads and risk of death by Kangaroo just aren’t worth saving a few bucks on gasoline, nor is it worth acquiescing to the Climate Council’s insensitive low carbon demands.
This is a piece of government demanding additional regulations so they must hire more employees to interfere with people’s lives.
An expansion that will be charged to ordinary citizens.
Sydney and Perth are around 4000km apart by road, so that signage needs an update 🙂
And also, where’s the bike lane?
Hard to believe that anybody would attempt to ride a bicycle long distance in country areas of Australia, but many do, and often foreign tourists peddling along as road trains thunder past a couple of inches away, blasting the rider with airstream and dust.
I heard two heavy transport drivers complaining on UHF radio about how dangerous bicycles on highways are and I decided to reply, I said that the once we had all passed looked like the same rider I passed when leaving Melbourne six months ago, we were in Western NSW, and we all laughed.
Lot of interesting animal crashes here, but I would like to home in on her use of the word ‘dirty’. Dirty? Dirty? Emotional crowd catching don’t I have high personal standards you proles.
One of the ways European cars have used to hit EU fuel efficiency targets has been to ditch spare tyres, to cut down on weight.
Good luck Eric, if you end up in the back of beyond with a flat tyre and no spare!!!
Noting that many or most experienced long distance remote area drivers carry two spare wheels and tyres plus a tyre repair kit plug system in Australia.
When I first retired and began exploring by road I took two female friends with me and when asked why I explained that the Outback Manual recommended taking a spare of everything.
If they were genuine about reducing future emissions then surely they would require all present and future EV batteries to be easily replaceable – rather than irreplaceable after just a coupla years…
So … these ‘developed world’ Car Manufacturers create vehicles to meet stringent emission requirements for export and domestic consumption – but also operate an alternative production line, just for exports, where they don’t?
If that makes any sense, please explain?
I am asking myself how I would react if I should ever run over an ecopath, I hadn’t noticed, who had glued themselves to the road.
The dividing line between pain and pleasure is not always easy to explain…_
Ecopath!!
another Excellent rebadge
sums them up so well too!!
Kangaroos have absolutely no road sense,
Well actually car drivers are most at risk in the breeding season when kangaroos engage in typical protective behaviour of their joeys. One adult leading the joey off while the other adult deliberately acts as a decoy for the fast approaching threat but alas too fast.
As for Australian health risks of burning fossil fuels thank you very much fossil fuels-
Australian Living Longer – Life Longevity – Household Capital™
As for Australians needing to get with the program filling our roads with EVs due to dreaded CO2 emissions the big picture tells us there is absolutely no benefit in us doing so. That’s because the global carmakers cannot make enough of them fast enough to satisfy current world demand. So it’s purely academic as to whether the current supply rate substitutes for an ICE car in Beijing Stuttgart Paris London NY or Sydney.
Nick and griff will be along to confirm that obvious logic as no doubt they would much prefer to be the proud sustainable owners of an EV long before my undeserving self.
I am unclear as to what it is you think I would confirm?
I am sure the 71% of Australians living in cities would benefit from more public transport and EVs, not least because of air quality… and given how many have solar panels, I’d assume that’d help with the cost of charging
You assume to much most of us would rather drive the big 4wd gas guzzler just because we can. The greens vote is around 12% they might care the vast majority of the rest would rather have the big car.
Most EVs would be recharging at night, after work and grocery shopping, Off Peak Cost time. Last time I checked solar panels didn’t produce much useful current at that time of the evening/night. Solar alone does nothing for allowing EV charging at night. You need either Grid power or a Wall Mount Battery that is twice the capacity of your car (100kWH car battery, 200kWH charging battery
public transports crap for the most part since privatised, expensive and poor area coverage for all bar metro. almost zero in rural areas
cost of adding a charger to aus homes? no idea no one talks about that oddly enough.
and the risk of fires in garages is appearing already from ev cars and home batteries
How would a home unit owner install solar panels on the roof of a home unit building and obtain permission from the other owners? And if approved how could all owners be given access, time share maybe?
breeding season? roos breed anytime ALL the time except drought
and they do NOT protect young – under duress of a dog/dingo chase mum will turf baby out of pouch if its of an age to possibly survive and keep going to be the bait herself
never seen or heard of a male roo giving a damn about progeny
We have similar animals in the US.
Those of us who remember vehicles in the fifties and sixties are grateful for the huge improvements since then.
71% of Australians live in cities… a sizeable chunk of the rest live in towns close to the major cities…
Are there really roos on the streets of Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide?
Some suburbs and most golf courses … many of which have to have culls to keep numbers down.
Australia is far more than just Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide
Can’t forget Queensland and the Northern Territory and the intervening thousands of kilometers between them
Let’s forbid city dwellers to drive more than 100 km from their residence.
Isn’t that where things are headed with COVID restrictions on travel, and shorter ranges on vehicles?
Are there really roos on the streets of Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide?
On the outskirts or in some of the larger parks, absolutely. Suburbs like Eltham and Greendale in Melbourne, or Ipswich, Samford and Karana Downs in Brisbane have kangaroos. The outskirts of West Melbourne, places like Caroline Springs, also sees a few roos. I don’t know Sydney, Perth and Adelaide as well as I know Brisbane and Melbourne, but I’m sure they’re about.
Kangaroos are stealthy and fast, they have no qualms about sneaking into town to munch on someone’s garden, especially in dry years, when millions of roos abandon the desert and desperately search for food in more heavily populated coastal communities.
In the city the Kangaroos are replaced by Greens who walk across roads with a mobile phone on their ear and often end up colliding with a vehicle.
Green Roos, they jump up and down but unlike Kangaroos Green Roos do it like little children when they don’t get what they want.
Ha ha. It was the Klimate Kouncil that said a couple of decades ago, that we would have a “perpetual drought”. We built a desal plant that has been in mothballs at great expense, because it has been raining ever since and the dams are full.
Cape Town had the bright idea of building a number of desalination plants.
There were only three little problems:
The exorbitant cost of the plants.
The high energy costs of running a plant and rolling blackouts.
Since impending Day Zero (2018) they have had five good winters filling dams.
Nobody ever mentions the environmental issues a desalination plant represents.
So, their government assumes the auto industry is withholding fuel efficiency / that we wouldn’t buy the same vehicle with better efficiency at a similar price? What they – and a lot of commenters – are talking about is less vehicle, not more mileage. Me? I like my full size SUV. Best, most useful, safest, most comfortable vehicle ever.
And therein lies a problem for governments, Australians favour SUV and utility trucks over other models in the majority, even Australians who don’t use all of the capabilities.
About 50% of EVs produced are SUVs which means they need larger batteries and increases the amount of minerals required to build them This,of course, increases the emissions of the production process.
you NEED a solid car to drive anywhere out of the cities/suburbia. Ive had one roo I avoided rebound and trash a side door, and a head on with a not so large one bent the bullbar up to the bumper without the bar the car and I would have been a LOT worse for wear, and yes rural roads are rough either dirt or potholed tarmac
Victorias weird they have the odd backroad with a onelane tarmac strip instead of all dirt
yes it has a good side IF theres no one else on it
but it does encourage faster speeds and then when 2 cars meet they both have to risk soft edges and if youre not alert and slowed it can get ugly especially in winter when its a mudbath on the sides.
small sedans bubble cars and evs are stuffed out here.
the stupid fools wanting to hike the emissions limit cars here? expect us less well off older car owners to then PAY increased charges to then hand to the wellheeled poshcars owners a subsidised discount
yeah once again like solar setups the subsidies are paid by the poorest!!
I have a V6 4wd and wouldnt own anything less, in spite of crap fuel economy and costs
So what’s the truth about Kangaroo meat, Eric?
I’ve read reports that it is OK. Or this like the difference between lamb and mutton?
I quite liked it peppered but it’s a lean, gamey meat – not to everyones taste.
Strong flavour. I’m not so keen on Kangaroo steaks, though its OK with pepper sauce as Richard says, but it works well in say Bolognaise sauce or curry.
When everything hits the fan wrt electrical power shortages, which now seem imminent, the political power structure will be transformed first. Those assuming office will not be beholden to the Green movement. It will be wryly humorous to read something like this when that happens: “To protect the power grid in the long run, and reduce the amount of power needed to be generated, regulatory agencies have announced the following new requirements on automakers for new vehicle production. Starting in 2026, all new EVs must be rated at a minimum of x miles per kWh of charge. This minimum will be raised 10% every five years for fifty years.”
What’s good for the goose…
It’s true. Aussies love 4wds and roadtrips. Beach access for fishing, camping and surfing. Towing campers or trailers. Being passed by a big truck going opposite direction is not fun in a small car, nor are crosswinds.
Dead Roos on roadsides are a common sight on country roads. In quite a few places a long WA, the EMU is a higher collision risk, in others farmer livestock like sheep or cattle. Oddly, wedgetail eagles get hit when full feeding on roadkill. Seem to struggle to get off the ground.
Being stranded in remote areas without phone reception isn’t healthy either.
I carry a personal EPIRB location beacon, a UHF radio and mobile phone in car kit with external antenna.
A much better way to improve efficiency:
Nothing would do more to reduce fuel consumption & traffic than to get people to accelerate faster, pay attention & avoid using brakes. After that, replace speed limits with adjustable Target Speeds. And, get rid of unnecessary stop signs!
🧵👍 #AntiFragileEnergy
https://mobile.twitter.com/aaronshem/status/1543268297344532484
Eric Worrall
most of Australia’s roads are little better than dirt tracks.
Hahahaha
Eric, you really are a FW. The absolute F****ckwitery of that comment just shows what clueless poster Eric is.
Also mild if depressing irony. We have all these Experts telling us that motor vehicles need to lift their game, while at the same time we have wind and solar that utterly fail to reach their name plate.
Big Wind needs to be held to their nameplate values.