Electric cars would seem to be an ideal choice for Hong Kong. Our compact city's crowded, narrow streets and high pollution levels are all good reasons for using such vehicles. Arguments for us to embrace them are being persuasively put by manufacturers, dealers and power companies. This would be a sensible step to take in the battle to reduce carbon emissions. But the talk won't be convincing without the necessary infrastructure and right mindset.
Officials have often spoken of electric and hybrid vehicles in the context of reducing air pollution. Environment Secretary Edward Yau Tang-wah launched a government initiative 19 months ago, pledging to make Hong Kong a leader in their use. A number of models are being trialled by departments and collaboration has been fostered with a handful of manufacturers. The effort is welcome, but it has so far had little impact. Of our 650,000 registered vehicles, fewer than 100 are battery-powered.
It is not surprising that there is a reluctance to get behind the wheel of an electric vehicle. Only 28 recharging points are available in private and public car parks and quick-charging facilities are still at the trial stage. The vehicles are not cheaper than conventional cars and the only government incentive for their purchase - a waiver on the first registration tax - does not look very attractive. If Hong Kong is to become a hub for electric vehicles, as officials have forecast, the reasons for us to buy them have to be more appealing.
That is going to be a hard sell with the fundamentals not in place. Batteries are less convenient than petrol, requiring long charging times and extensive networks of stations. Installing such facilities in new buildings can be mandated, but it is not so easy in older ones where there are multiple owners and efforts have to be co-ordinated with power companies and regulators. Better batteries, the mass roll-out of recharging points and electricity grids allowing flexibility in managing demand take resolve and time to develop.
Even then, the centre of the system - the electricity source - is not addressed. Electric cars cut roadside air pollution to almost zero, but if power stations still get the majority of their energy from fossil fuels, as Hong Kong's do, the problem is being shifted, not resolved. With our present mix of 54 per cent of electricity being generated by coal and 23 per cent each by natural gas and nuclear, the difference in emissions with vehicles with petrol-driven engines is negligible. Switching fleets would also dramatically increase power usage and thus carbon emissions. Ideally, all our power needs would come from nuclear, wind and other 'green' energies, but that is not an eventuality the government has in its sights this decade.
These are not reasons to belittle the government's efforts. Although its rhetoric is not being matched by deeds, it is at least looking in the right direction. Most of our roadside air and noise pollution comes from diesel-powered buses and delivery trucks. Switching the fleet to electric-powered alternatives would be a major benefit to the health of our city.