This article provides information on greening Australian transport
Assist in the early stage adoption of greener vehicles
Ensure that regulations and incentives are in place to encourage the use of next gen green vehicles and green fuels. Support home refueling and re-charging of green vehicles including:
- Electric Cars
- Plugin Hybrid Vehicles
- Hybrid Vehicles that use CNG or Hydrogen
- Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) Vehicles
- CNG ICE Vehicles
- Fuel Cell Vehicles
Establish a Gaseous Refuelling Infrastructure for use by both buses and private vehicles
It is now generally accepted that battery vehicles and/or biofueled vehicles will not be able to meet the transport demands of the of the transport sector. To support the adoption of CNG, Hythane and H2 ICE vehicles as well as Fuel Cell Vehicles gaseous refueling must be made available at metro hubs and along trucking corridors.
Refer to the below existing and planned CNG and H2 refueling infrastructures:
Given that we have not yet started Australia can innovate by building combined CNG and H2 refueling stations.
This Melbourne CBD location would be great for a demonstration CNG/H2 refueling station. Proposed Location
Refocus the auto industry on lighter weight electric drive vehicles
- Electric motors
- Electric vehicle transmissions and drive components
- Regenerative braking systems
- Related Electronics
- Advanced rechargeable battery technologies. Including zinc Air battery.
- Use of light weight materials for vehicle construction
Hybrid ICE electric vehicles should be viewed as a transition stage to Battery Powered Vehicles and Fuel Cell Vehicles. Hybrid ICE vehicles should be encouraged to use CNG or H2 as a fuel source. All Hybrid Vehicles should be plugins.
Encourage the use and expansion of the public transport system
Background Info:
- The average vehicle efficiency in Australia is currently 11.5 litres per 100km which equivalent to 960 watt hours per km
- A hybrid Toyota Prius in electric only mode uses only 140 watt hours per km
- 32,999 million passenger kms per year are travelled in Melbourne which is 26,857 million vehicle kms per year (100%), equivalent 25 million barrels of oil per year ($5b worth)
- Shifting 80% of these to electrified rail (which needs 839GWh of electricity to power it over a year) would save 20 million barrels of oil per year
- Shifting the remaining 20% to electric Toyota prius drivetrain (for example) with larger battery store 192GWh would save 5 million barrels of oil per year. Longer journeys in these vehicles could be fuelled by “good” biofuels.