# Where are his statistics?



## Jens Rekker (Oct 26, 2007)

Oh well,

With any luck Clive hasn't actually influenced many folks given the afternoon time slot. You can hear both the UltraCommuter story and Clive Matthew Wilson's rant as follow on the RNZ website:

http://www.radionz.co.nz/__data/assets/audio_item/0007/1504375/aft-20080512-1548-Environmental_Story_-_Electric_Cars-wmbr.asx

and

http://www.radionz.co.nz/__data/assets/audio_item/0004/1504444/aft-20080512-1637-The_Panel_Part_2-wmbr.asx

Clive has always struck me a bit of a Mad Butcher character, and not everyone has posession of the facts of EV technology. It will take some time before it is mainstream knowledge. He was a bit all over the place though ... one minute arguing for public transport and the next saying that busy executives needed door to door public transport (an EV taxi could be handy for that?).

The spot with the UltraCommuter was good though.

Cheers
Jens


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## Heretic (May 8, 2008)

People neglect to mention that food prices are going up, among other things, because lots of farm land is having food crops turned into biofuel crops ... and yet they have the nerve to bag electric!!!


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## KiwiEV (Jul 26, 2007)

I agree. Where Mr Wilson went wrong was bundling Electric Vehicles in with fuels such as bio-diesel, hydrogen fuel cells and ethenol. Those are alternative fuels with potentially negative implications. 

I don't like his reasoning that New Zealand's little power stations don't have the generation capacity for all 2 million motorists to switch to electric _overnight_.

First off, there aren't two million EV's in the entire world yet. Secondly, as with _any_ change, it would be very gradual and not done overnight. It's a terrible analogy. Thirdly, changing to electric would be completely optional!

The national power grid would slowly adapt to the estimated 40% increase if each and every NZ vehicle was gradually replaced to electric. That's also excluding the positive impact of home owned solar generation - a growing phenomenon in NZ.

My blood has returned from boiling point back to a nice warm simmer, I only wish Clive Matthew Wilson did some serious research and looked at what could and _is_ happening in the world of electric vehicles.


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## demolay rules (Feb 28, 2008)

Not to contradict you or anything, but I'd have to disagree with you that communism sounds good. Of course, easier said than done. Not to say that electric cars aren't possible. You're testament to the fact that they are. Unless you are a machine planted by the world controlling masons and jews (I am one-I'm allowed to say that!)! That was a joke, for you people with no humor.

P.S. Hope I didn't offend anyone LOL!


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## KiwiEV (Jul 26, 2007)

demolay rules said:


> Not to contradict you or anything, but I'd have to disagree with you that communism sounds good. Of course, easier said than done. Not to say that electric cars aren't possible. You're testament to the fact that they are. Unless you are a machine planted by the world controlling masons and jews (I am one-I'm allowed to say that!)! That was a joke, for you people with no humor.
> 
> P.S. Hope I didn't offend anyone LOL!


Don't get me wrong, I'm not in favour of or against communism. What the guy on the radio was trying to suggest is that the _idea_ of communism and the _idea_ of electric cars both work in theory, but in practice they really don't work. I expect communism could work quite well in North Korea if Kim Jong Il put the effort in. My main quibble was the electric car part of his story as we all know EV's work darn well!

And no offense taken, it would be a dull world if we all couldn't make fun of eachother!


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## demolay rules (Feb 28, 2008)

Sorry, I thought you were saying that communism was neither good on paper nor in life. I meant to right that it is good on paper, just not life. Which is exactly what you wrote the first time. Wow, I feel dumb. (Shrinks back into the corner and cries)


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## electric_soarer (May 12, 2008)

KiwiEV said:


> Don't get me wrong, I'm not in favour of or against communism. What the guy on the radio was trying to suggest is that the _idea_ of communism and the _idea_ of electric cars both work in theory, but in practice they really don't work. I expect communism could work quite well in North Korea if Kim Jong Il put the effort in. My main quibble was the electric car part of his story as we all know EV's work darn well!
> 
> And no offense taken, it would be a dull world if we all couldn't make fun of eachother!


Wow, that car looks great. 300klm range is just what I need! We have our fair share of ignoramus radio hosts here (in oz) as well.

On the subject of communism; There needs to be a balance. A little socialism is necessary for stability. We need to look after the less fortunate or else it's a pretty cold damn world.


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## WagMore (Sep 15, 2008)

Here's a link to an "press release" by Clive on Scoop back in April that outlines his ideas with some links....

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0804/S00071.htm

I've got to say I agree with his assessment of biofuels (at least corn based biofuels) and hydrogen vehicles but disagree with most everything else.... I think we are headed for a crisis with oil (be it shortages or world political instability) and EV's/PHEV's are our best short term fix out of it. Long term I think we are going to have to re-think our happy motoring lifestyle. Meanwhile I have a ball every time I drive my Prius... 150kms today on the road for work at an average of 3.8 litres/100km or 56 USMPG smiling all the way. That's more than three times the mileage of the Toyota Highlander it replaced.

You got to love it...
Chip


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## KiwiEV (Jul 26, 2007)

Couldn't agree more. Where he goes wrong is lumping EV's in with Biofuels/Hyrdogen Fuel Cells etc. 
For example from that link:
_Electric cars simply don’t make economic or environmental sense. Electric cars are plagued by the same problems that have dogged them since the early days of motoring: high cost, limited range and the constant need for recharging._

Not true any more. Besides, the exact same can be said for ICE cars - high cost, limited range (due to availability and cost of fuel) and the constant need for refueling. That's his style though; to state facts that sound correct at first glance, until you questing them. Perfect for the media as they're short, sharp info-bites. 

He's going to get a big shock though - "Real" production EVs will start hitting our shores within the next 2 years.


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## MaverickNZ (May 14, 2008)

http://www.teslamotors.com/ and this is a prime example. I'm not sure if any of you guys have seen the tesla before but im seriously considering starting to save up for one now lol.


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## KiwiEV (Jul 26, 2007)

MaverickNZ said:


> http://www.teslamotors.com/ and this is a prime example. I'm not sure if any of you guys have seen the tesla before but im seriously considering starting to save up for one now lol.



Not only that, Tesla Motors are working on the Whitestar, which is a family car with great performance & range running on batteries alone. And of course the Mitsubishi MIEV will be entering production shortly, followed closely by the Volt. In fact, if Clive Matthew Wilson were to listen to the EV Cast (www.evcast.com) once in a while, he'd have no choice but to rethink his stance. 
After listening to the last 10 episodes I'm more optimistic about the future of EVs than I ever was. I recommend everyone to check it out. I download the podcasts and play them while driving around at work.


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