I can't say that the general standard of debate attached to this issue has been particularly informative or inspiring. There are any number of possible biofuels, but we actually HAVE a secure, reliable, relatively non polluting and cost effective alternative available - natural gas. It may not be eventually sustainable but it's a terrific option until genuinely sustainable biofuels are developed and available. What it doesn't have is positive publicity, much government support or available infrastructure to deliver economically to the potentially millions of automotive users around Australia. Why not? No way out conspiracy theories please. Surely it's possible to set up a trial public site close to a centre of production with genuine retail outlets and media coverage of developments - how about the north eastern corner of NSW? It's conveniently located near the Casino gas fields. It has a tolerance, even enthusiasm for Green politics and enough money and motivation about to actually get something going.

Yes, we have natural gas and it's available now, but it isn't as suitable as it initially appears. For depot-based vehicles - buses, garbage trucks, urban delivery, etc - it's great because they can refuel frequently. For most vehicles, the space required for sufficient fuel to take you as far as a tank of petrol would occupy all the trunk space and probably the rear seat space too. When oil gets much more scarce or expensive, many city vehicles could use natural gas, but it would need a lot of planning - something we haven't seen much of to date. For a big increase in use, there would need to be a pipeline joining the supply in the North-West to the market mostly in the South-East.
If you're thinking we could use LNG, consider the cost and weight of the fuel tank. Quite different to have a spherical 'kettle' built into your car than on a ship. Besides, the energy required (and the emissions) for compressing the gas to LNG makes it an environmentally unattractive solution. There are better, easier and cheaper alternatives.

Thanks David.I take your points in principle. What are those better, cheaper, cleaner alternatives?

I'm glad you accept the fact that CNG isn't as easy as it sounds.
The easier alternative is electricity. The electric car is possible today if we accept a range of just several typical urban journeys. Without a national plan and agreement, however, it will be an uphill battle. Ultimately, when fuel cells become available, they can either generate the electricity on board or be used at the generating station (My bet is the latter). Electric cars are in use in London today, but Australia won't allow it on Austrailian roads because of Australian Design Rules. Time for a review of rules, in my opinion, not just because of that car, but to make sure we are protecting ourselves from the most important dangers. When most of the rules were made, the regulators probably hadn't heard about climate change.

Hello David. After recently watching a rather informing program titled "Who Killed the Electric Car", i become bewildered by the many realities car manufacturers have imposed on us. The show tells the story of the flash in the pan Existence of the Electric EV1 vehicles made in California in the early 90's, which ultimately meet their early demise. General Motors ordering the destruction of their entire fleet, despite the trends of gaining steady popularity and proving to be successful in having zero emissions and they drove really well.

This lead me to do some internet research, one site in particular, evworld.com caught my eye. This is where i came across an article from The Age, showing the Axcess car you helped develop. I must say it is quite amazing! I can only dream of something like this going big scale and having big backing somehow to get this moving. I ask, what are your plans from here as far as the next phase of EV Project? What can we do as a people to show our support for this kind of technology? David, your vehicle gives me hope as a solution to one of the many problems our uncertain future faces. cheers tobes

Thank you for your encouragement, Tobes. I've had a fair number of emails offering support, but I'm afraid the reality is that it takes lots of money. Australia's carmakers could have done it already if there had been a policy linking ACIS money - that's the billions of dollars handed to the car industry to encourage research and investment mentioned in the Age article. The rules weren't tight enough, so the so-called research has given us the same old big cars that emit more than 300 grams per kilometer when Europe is talking of imposing an average of 130 or even 120 g/km for cars sold in the EU. Sales of big cars have fallen around 30% in the past two years since fuel prices started to climb. We've seen the results in reduced numbers of employees in the industry, and today one of the suppliers has gone broke (Coghlan & Russell) who've been a supplier to Ford for many decades. If one of the carmakers can't keep its head above water, maybe government would redirect the milliions to helping a new company make small hybrids. It would be nice to use the CSIRO technology, but the most important thing is to make available a car that uses local industry. Then all government fleets could specify an Australian fuel efficient, low emission car.
The cynic might say that there's not much chance of that when the politicians ride in limousines - except certain Greens senators.
Write, and encourage all your friends to write and call Alan Jones and John Laws, insisting that politicians drive local cars, but ones that meet world's best standards.