Labour have been trumpeting the benefits of electric cars to the masses for years now, yet the extent to which our current car-centric system makes any sense is largely ignored.
The withdrawal of Zipcar from the UK highlights the contradiction between our stated desire for green transport modes, yet our continued prioritisation of the private motorcar above all else.
I mean let's face it, car sharing makes much more sense ecologically than everyone owning their own individual vehicle, whether it's diesel or electric!
And of course another MASSIVE bonus of car sharing schemes is to reduce the amount of space we need for parking, which would greatly increase the functionality of many of our city roads.
Electric cars are still cars!
The thing that most people don't get are that electric cars are just a slight modification to an inefficient transport system. Yes, electric cars may produce no emissions when they’re running, but they still produce other pollutants that damage our environment. For instance, brake dust damages our environment.
But more important is the fact that EVs don't solve the space-related problem of cars. Cars are notoriously underused, being parked 95% of the time. But still, we are giving space to costly lumps of steel in the city, not to the human inhabitants. Simply putting electric motors inside these lumps is not going to solve the space-related problem.
Sharing can change behaviour, not just fuel types...
The contrast between the levels of investment is stark. Billions are being allocated for the subsidization of private EV purchases, with the majority benefiting higher-income households who can afford cars anyway. Contrastingly, investment into car-sharing services, mostly utilized by city dwellers and younger individuals, is minimal or absent.
This flies in the face of the government’s claims to support more sustainable modes of transport. If the government really wanted to tackle the dominance of the car, then car sharing would be a key tool to consider – offering tax benefits, working with local authorities, providing designated parking spaces, and facilitating public transport link-ups, for example.
We are left with a model which actually promotes car ownership, but gives lip service to the concept of sustainability.
And the outcome is predictable. Sharing car schemes face difficulty in scaling up, withdrawing their services, and the UK commits more to a car-based future, but this time with quieter engines.
Final thoughts
If we truly care about the health of the planet, then the answer is not simply a cleaner car, but a reduced number of cars altogether. Sharing cars is a policy that has the ability to tick many boxes, including reduced emissions, reduced congestion, equitable access, and a liveable city, yet its relative obscurity in comparison to EV schemes says a great deal about how superficial the entire transport-green agenda is being treated.
If we are to have in Britain buildings designed for people, not parked cars, then sharing must be central, not optional.