If we all switched to electric powered vehicles won't the overall consumption of electricity go up since everyone will need to charge their cars or vans.
I think switching to electric vehicles will just move the pollution problem not solve it. Sure cities will eventually be cleaner, but how will we produce all this extra demand for electricity. Short term extra energy production will mean fossil fuel powered stations staying online longer than previously planned, while newer greener options are looked at and built. So what does this mean. It means we will need more wind farms, more tidal and more hydro electric solutions, and quite possibly more solar powered stations.
This date of 2030 ish (will probably change) be used for all new cars in the EU will be electric is not that far off. But have governments prepared for the increase in the extra electricity consumption. I doubt it.
Average UK energy consumption in the UK is about 3940 kWh per year. The global average is 3370 kWh (data from EC4U) . Now when you start charging a car this energy consumption increases to about 7324 kWh. This means an increase of about €500 per year (data from Virta). While this is cheaper than your annual fuel bill, an average fuel bill comes in at about €3000 a year. It does mean more demand for electricity, and how is this demand going to be met.
There is an interesting article on Energy Matters about the cost of electric cars.
And how will you charge electric vehicles if you live in a flat, not all flats have allocated parking and also some houses have street parking only so how do they charge their cars.
Its quite worrying that governments can pass this kind of legislation without thinking through all the possible consequences of what could happen.
