ONE of my favourite sayings is: “The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.”
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The barking dogs provide some noise and excitement, but it’s not enough to stop the progress of the noble camel train with its piles of luggage.
The fantasy of “clean coal” has been debunked over and over again, but that doesn’t stop climate deniers and coal-industry supporters from barking about it. It adds to noise and confusion but the fact is that the “caravan” of renewable energy continues to move forward.
It’s in this context that Bathurst Community Climate Action Network has been quietly banging on about the need for a major electric car race on Mount Panorama for over 10 years now.
As the world moves from the internal combustion engine to the electric car – ideally fuelled by renewable energy – electric car races will become more popular around the world.
If Bathurst is to remain in the game into the future, then we need to go electric. But it’s not a matter of “either/or”. A popular electric car race drawing increasingly large crowds could sit on the annual calendar alongside the Supercars for a long time yet.
Last October, Alejandro Agag, the chief executive of the electric Formula E race – a superfast race that occurs in cities around the world – announced that he was exploring possibilities in China and Australia. He has had important conversations with players in Sydney, Adelaide and the Gold Coast. Moves are afoot.
Electric cars are capable of reaching great speeds but the hitch is battery life. The Formula E car races are completed by giving each team two cars; half way through the race, in lieu of a pit stop, the driver leaps out of the “dead” car into another one with a fresh battery.
This technical difficulty is currently occupying some of the planet’s brightest minds. Once we have battery life sorted, renewables will take a quantum leap; they will truly be the energy of the future.
We need to start positioning ourselves for that future now. If we don’t, that caravan will move on and we will have barely “barked”.
BCCAN is now considering the possibility of a demonstration day or “gabfest” about electric car racing later this year. If you are interested in being part of it, email bxclimateaction@gmail.com.
