Does ‘Hoverboard Hammond’ really believe e-cars will cure congestion?

Watch the video for my critical comments on this morning’s party conference speech by Philip ‘end the war on motorists’ Hammond.



It’s well known Hammond is a petrol-head but he now seems to think electric cars will solve almost all ills.

Here’s some snippets from a speech he gave last month to a ‘low carbon vehicles’ crowd.

I believe we are on the brink of a critical transformation of road transport.

The next 30 years will see a shift from high carbon to low carbon based road travel, as significant as the shift a century ago from the horse to the combustion engine.

Once that shift is underway, and clearly irreversible, policy makers will be able to plan for a future that includes the car - safe in the knowledge the benefits of individual travel will be available to future generations without compromising our carbon reduction goals.

Personal mobility, the ability to travel point-to-point on an individually-tailored timetable has been a huge boon and people are not going to give up the liberty provided by the car lightly.

Fortunately, thanks to the technological revolution we are about to embark on, they won’t have to.

Yes we must tackle congestion on our roads and in our cities. And so we want to ensure that people can use alternatives for vehicle journeys such as high speed rail and public transport.

But we need to recognise that, for many journeys, the car will remain the only practical and convenient choice. Which means we must make the car sustainable by decarbonising transport over the coming years.