Rowan Atkinson feels ‘duped’ by electric cars

The well known actor has pointed out the environmental credentials of electric cars are not what they seemed and called for the adoption of a genius new solution.

Legendary actor, comedian and car enthusiast, Rowan Atkinson, has turned against electric cars.

Having converted to battery power nine years ago, the actor known for his roles in Mr. Bean and Blackadder said the technology is flawed and other alternatives should be explored in an opinion column in the UK publication The Guardian.

The Tesla Model Y is one best selling vehicles in the country in 2023. Photo: Mark Bean.

“Increasingly, I feel a little duped. When you start to drill into the facts, electric motoring doesn’t seem to be quite the environmental panacea it is claimed to be,” he said.

In February this year the EU approved plans to cut tailpipe emissions by 100 per cent by 2035, signalling the end of new petrol and diesel-powered vehicles.

Rowan Atkinson has a well known love of cars.

Atkinson said the problem with this is it focuses on just one part of the car’s operating life: what comes out of the exhaust pipes and ignores other elements such as the manufacturing and the mining of rare earth minerals, shipping and building of the batteries.

Volvo released figures in 2021 that claimed the CO2 emissions from manufacturing an electric car are 70 per cent higher than a petrol one.

Volvo claims electric cars create 70 per cent more CO2 emissions to produce than petrol cars.

Atkinson blames the battery for this.

“The problem lies with the lithium-ion batteries fitted currently to nearly all electric vehicles: they’re absurdly heavy, many rare earth metals and huge amounts of energy are required to make them, and they only last about 10 years.”

Instead of going electric he highlighted several other emerging technologies and novel ideas that are better solutions in the short term.

He accused car makers of following a “fast fashion” business model and it ignored the fact that petrol cars can last for 30 years.

Atkinson called for the development of synthetic fuels, which can prolong the life of current cars instead of forcing people to buy new electric vehicles.

Synthetic fuel, also known as eFuel, is made by combining hydrogen made from green energy and carbon drawn from the atmosphere to produce synthetic methanol that is then made into eFuel.

Drawing the carbon from the atmosphere means that it is effectively CO2 neutral as it doesn’t release extra carbon into the atmosphere.

German automaker Porsche has been investing heavily in developing synthetic fuels in a bid to keep some of its conventional sports cars.

The company announced one of several eFuel production facilities will be built in Australia.

It’ll be located in Tasmania, which runs on 100 per cent renewable energy, allowing for the production of green hydrogen.

He also said hydrogen fuel could be a more practical solution, especially for heavy transport such as trucks.

Toyota has been at the forefront of hydrogen power.

Toyota is at the forefront of developing hydrogen, applying the cutting edge technology in several vehicles including the Mirai, which are being used by several councils in Australia.

Toyota Australia’s head of sales and marketing, Sean Hanley, has repeatedly stressed that focusing on just one technology – battery electric cars – is not the answer and they should be part of a diverse mix of future products.

“We know that BEVs will play an increasingly important role in cutting carbon. But advocating for a BEV-only approach right now is not in the best interests of consumers or the environment,” he said.