The once skeptical Pike is enjoying his moment in the spotlight. Aussie TV and Perth’s main newspaper came out to report on the installation, and he was a popular interviewee.
“I’m very interested to see how it’s going, and to see the turnover of people and the number of people who are now coming in with electric vehicles,” he says. “I think it’s a big step forward in reducing our carbon footprint.”
While burning cooking oil to generate electricity isn’t the zero-emissions solution that will come when solar panels/battery banks become profitable, Edwards’ short-term plan is reducing landfill and using a fuel that is already there.
Respected electric vehicle commentator Roger Atkins applauds the move, especially until the cost-benefit comparison of solar charging works. “It’s important not to let the good get in the way of the good,” he says. Atkins champions “use whatever is local, available, and effective.”
This road was traveled many times by AC/DC in its early days and was apparently the inspiration for their most famous song, Highway to Hell, and it’s only fitting that it now has electric highway status. But the question is, now that Edwards has built the EV infrastructure, will customers come?
“Over the past five years, the average number of electric vehicles passing through the Nullarbor has been five,” he says. “Once it’s learned that fast charging is available, we expect it to grow to 20, maybe 40, even 100 a year.”
That potentially means an average wait of three days, not nearly three months, between EV visits. It is certainly progress.
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Source: www.autocar.co.uk
This notice was published: 2022-04-02 05:01:24
