There is a little nagging worry in the oil industry.
The economics of fracking wells is such that almost none of the
companies that went into the tight oil business have made a profit.
They sell off their drilling rights to newcomers so that it has
all become a Ponzi scheme.
In the meantime crude oil production has continued a slow decline
until just recently when there was a bump up.
The industry is getting concerned about possible shortage of supply.
Australia is probably in a worse position because of dependency on
one refinery in Singapore and one in Sth Korea.
Government has done nothing to comply with the 3 month stocks.
We just have about two weeks supply.

I do not think that a change to electric cars is driven by global
warming worries, I suspect that it is driven by the attitude of
companies such as Shell and BP. They probably have put their heads
together and come to some conclusions they do not want to make public.

That seems a bit conspiracy like but it is too low key.

Recently Saudi Aramco has offered bonds for sale. When they went onto
the market, they had to reveal for the first time, their resources.
The reality was that they had less resources and production ability
than had been previously presumed.

So watch this space, as they say !

Norway has the highest concentration of EVs, thanks to government largesse with taxpayers’ money. Like all information from green fanatics, figures are very rubbery, and the closest to the truth for numbers is somewhere between 10% - 30%. But, as one of the very costly measures adopted by the extremely socialist government is the waiving of registration for EVs, the real figures would be very hard to get.

The nutty Norwegians have also waived all import duties on EVs, waived road tolls, granted free passage on ferries, and the use of bus lanes in congested cities for EVs.

On the other hand, conventional cars are heavily taxed, and very expensive: a Ford SUV costing over 200% more than it does in the U.S.

Would loony Labor, front organisation for the Greens, need to do the same thing to effect this totally unnecessary, extremely expensive EV mania?

Probably, if their past performances are anything to go by. We will never have another auto manufacturing industry, thanks to the increasing energy prices engineered by both sides of politics; so, how hard would it be to tax all imported conventional vehicles out of the market, and let in the EVs for nix!

It is fun, truly, watching some target Labor and ignoring this truth
A sensible center exists, it is made up of voters from both sides
And that center is concerned, about fuels and power for the next hundred years
Look at the last one hundred years,see the progress, the very invention of the motor car
Planes, the end of steam powered ships
Our entry in to space
Who can tell what will be achieved in the next one hundred years
What will, not may, will replace the emerging EVs

ttbn,
Your claim that registration is waived for EVs in Norway is totally wrong. The number registered can be found on the Wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plug-in_electric_vehicles_in_Norway

Norway's incentives for EVs do appear excessive, but they are intended to be temporary.

Belly,

There is no danger of Australia running out of coal or gas, even if our entire energy production was from such sources for the next century.

There would no danger of Australia running out of uranium, even if our entire energy production was from such sources for the next century.

I'm not suggesting that any new nuclear energy plants should use the sixty-year-old technology of Chernobyl (which was being dismantled at the time it blew up thirty three years ago this month). Or the fifty-sixty-year-old technology of Three Mile Island.

After careful thought, I would not recommend the construction of a nuclear plant like at Fukushima, on the beach in a tsunami-prone coastline, and near tectonic fault-lines.

No, if anything, I would recommend the application of the latest nuclear technology, away from fault-lines and tsunami-prone coasts. Is there anywhere in Australia which might meet those criteria ? Areas away from coasts which have never (or at least for a billion years) been prone to earthquakes ? Any inland areas in Australia which may not have ever experienced earthquakes ? And away from population centres as well ?

Gosh, I wonder if anybody has ever thought about this.

Joe

How will Labor, the most rapacious of tax collectors, replace the very lucrative fuel exercise if, as they claim, 50% of vehicle sales will be EVs by 2030?

Does anyone think that they will just say “Ah, well”, and let the loss of revenue just slide? The loss of revenue could be as high as $5 billion a year.

At the moment, the cheapest EV is $40,000: a Hyandai that not many of our big-mouth big-timers would not be happy driving. As with all climate change mania, we are talking about cost, cost, cost.

The Australian RET agency suggests that to achieve 50% EV sales by 2030, stamp duty and registration would have to be waived (as per Norway). Which poor mugs would have to pick up that loss of revenue. We already have people who cannot afford solar panels paying for those who can.

Chief Scientist Alan Finkel found a 20 per cent electric vehicle uptake could account for four per cent of grid demand. More demand for electricity. But then, he is the same bloke who can't tell how much difference, if any, the huge cost of reducing a bit of CO2 will make to the climate.

At the moment, and into the foreseeable future, Green Labor policies are pure twaddle - but very, very expensive twaddle.