From Sam Edge, Ringwood, Hampshire, UK
Jason Barlow applauds electric cars for personal transport entering the mainstream (23 March, p 24). Of course, getting rid of fossil-fuel-powered vehicles is a step in the right direction.
But even if electrically powered, a car conveying one person to and from work five days a week is hugely inefficient. Our road networks cost a fortune to maintain and enlarge in both financial and environmental terms, purely to support this ever-expanding daily migration.
Cars degrade the environment with noise, tyre wear, lubricants, construction, disposal and maintenance, regardless of the energy source used. Until the semi-mythical autonomous car arrives, time spent commuting is wasted. Electrify them by all means, but please make the majority of non-freight vehicles on the roads be buses and allow employees to work from home where possible.
