The future of our wheels and affordable electric vehicles in Pembs.

Two schemes are on the streets to get in the electric seat. Pembs. county council has e-bikes to hop on in 3 towns for around £3 an hour, and you can drop them off in a different bay in any of these towns. It’s like a personalised bus service. There are 30 available, with more on their way through the summer. 

Grwp Resilience wants to open the GAT (Green Affordable Transport) to our small business sector to kick the fossil fuel habit and stop bleeding money. We have a first electric van for small businesses to try out. From the results we could bulk buy the vehicles we need and then follow with the generation to fuel them locally from our wind, sun and water. The low cost fuel is half the advantage, the other is the simplicity of having no engine, gears, water system, exhaust to repair. Its just the bodywork, wheels, suspension and brakes that need maintaining. In 11 years of driving my leaf the motor and battery have needed nothing.

In conversations, within a sentence or two, people kick into their Electric Cars are bad gear- the mining is more polluting and worse for child labour, the materials are all in China, they burst into flames, they are unaffordable, if everyone used them we wouldn’t have enough power or grid, everyone is getting rid of them now, batteries don’t last.

They are victims of the propaganda machine that uses bits of truth and blends them with a toxic soup of mistrust and hostility. The result floods the brain leaving no space for thinking for yourself, basic science or common sense. 

 It would take pages with links to unpick and balance out all the pros, cons and caveats of electric transport. The hostile reaction is much easier – a sugar rush. Another route to reality is to learn from direct experience, by trialling and asking neighbours, we have plenty of electric movers locally to talk to.

 We held an electric bike muster where locals shared their e-bike stories with each other and it was filmed. See Grwp.wales website. We bought a little electric van this month, get in touch if your business wants to trial it. It has been tried by five businesses producing veg, milk, candles, recording, electronics, A baker tries it next week. It’s a short range van, I suggest 50 miles although it has done over 70 for me without a load. Why this short range?

Kicking the fossil fuel habit means transformative change. The general view is that this is for the worse, we have to sacrifice conveniences.  Another view is that it is for the better, leading to a community shaped local economy where you could visit the producers of all your basics or see them from a mountain if you lived near one. This is not a dream, there are areas where this is already partly true and it makes for a happier more secure economic model. Twns like Newport with this local supplier culture are incredibly popular with visitors. My mum exclaimed when she visited ’It’s all so human scale’ 

Fossil fuels are amazing! They are the compressed sunlight of millions, tens, hundreds of millions of years. We are burning them in a flash. The energy which was stored in life- plants and animals, then compacted by the sheer weight of all this abundance, and fossilised rather than rotting, will never be repeated in the lifetime of the earth. We are squandering it and destroying nature in the process. By burning past life we are burning future life too, we are so clever and collectively so stupid. We have developed amazing technologies because of them. When we walk out or are kicked out of fossil fuels we can keep these inventions if society holds up – internet, computers, photovoltaics, nanotech and many more to come. 

We interviewed businesses to find out how they can reach zero emissions and get out of fossil fuels. What help is needed. Their answers ranged from ‘we can’t’ to ‘we’re already doing it’. The interviews were relaxed, sitting around at an event and people became thoughtful and full of ideas, even the ‘We cants’. From talking it became clear that our small businesses need help to get transport green and self sufficient. Our wayward weather can produce electricity abundantly enough for a proper local economy, so let’s just do it. 

Its not just the businesses. Talking to the crowds at our community garden open day in the heart of Haverfordwest, so many had no access or expectation of ever having a car, I was shocked to realise. 

Buses and trains are great but not enough. From the day the first savage jumped on a horse or found a floating tree could carry them, humans have been in love with personal transport. Skis, skateboards, horses, bikes, trikes – whatever. Personal mobility is in our DNA, it just got hijacked and side-tracked by fossil fuels.

People say we are victims of the roulette wheel of fate. No need to be, in this case we can steer the fate of wheels.