If, as former British PM Harold Wilson said, “a week is a long time in politics”, three years must be an eternity and I would suggest that the energy crisis is only going to escalate at warp speed in that time, both in terms of availability and cost, with renewables being further exposed as incapable of filling the void.
They simply can’t. As I used to say in a previous life and still do, renewables are boutique at best.
Same with EV’s. They work terrifically well but have their long haul limitations. And towing a van or a load? That further exposes and exacerbated the limitations.
They are the absolute epitome of the notion of “boutique”.
Great for zipping around the suburbs and although the smaller (impractical?) Tesla has a range of around 600kms in a range test earlier this year, the problems that arise when starting to add a load and with charging station availability where and when you want to “fill her up” combined with charging times of half an hour or more, make them impractical and inconvenient.
How will the family SUV loaded for the school holidays trip to the Gold Coast perform or the trip to the snow in winter with everyone else. And all wanting to charge at the same time at the the same place? See the problem?
Then there’s the not insignificant matter, after building a grid of 100% renewables and by government edict switching private transport over to EVs, having that renewable grid robust enough to take the extra load.
Even the coal fired grid would struggle with that.
Random Prediction: —
Labor could end up as a one term government if they haven’t wrestled this energy monster to the ground by 2025 but Boy Bowen has painted himself into a corner on nuclear.
If the Liberals were smart (and they’re not, they’re dumb and stupid) they would be all over nuclear.
Whoever gets to nuclear first, as Labor did under Whitlam with healthcare, wins. Eventually. If not in 2025 then 2028.
But whichever, nuclear is the only available and practical off ramp either party has.