There is a sign in Grens that recommends for people not to use their cars on Sunday. It dates back to last century. In the 1970s during a previous oil crisis the motorway was shut in Switzerland, and people played tennis. We are now in yet another fuel crisis and I see encouraging signs from some quarters, and absurd behaviour from the other.
I read that Byd, Mercedes and Penny are working to produce electric heavy Goods vehicles for use within the European market. I also read that Lidl are trialling self-driving electric trucks for logistics between shops and warehouses. From this side we’re leaping into the future.
I also read that the second hand market for Electric Vehicles in France is expanding to be a worthwhile niche to get in. In this regard part of society is moving towards the future with determination.
On the other side I noticed that the A1 Parking lot (congested motorway nickname) is saturated with petrol cars and I noticed that roads between Nyon, Eysins, Arnex, Crans and more are saturated not just with cars, but cars being driven fast and dangerously if you’re walking between villages and vulnerable.
I also noticed that there are plenty of con artists walking with leaf blowers blowing dust from their client’s side of the road to the other side, and onto the cars of people parked in the right place at the wrong place. During a petrol crisis, it seems absurd to use leaf blowers when a good old fashioned reed brush tied to a long stick would do the same thing, with no fuel cost.
I see the cycling community, and we ride up the Jura every week, up to several times, on bicycles, taking secondary or tertiary roads to avoid traffic. The more often we go up, the less impossible the climb feels, and the faster we eventually become. We’re self-powered and we’re relatively quiet. During an energy crisis our behaviour is rational.
On the flipside we have people on motorbikes going up and down some of the same roads, but they’re gunning the throttle, they’re doing wheelies, I’ve seen two wheelies this summer, and they’re clad for protection, in case they hit the pavement. They’re burning huge amounts of fuel, for pleasure and this behaviour clashes with my values.
Over a decade ago, when I had a scooter, I might have ridden to work and back, or to be social, but I felt odd wasting fuel for a joyride to get somewhere, just for the sake of driving, rather than hiking, climbing, cycling or scuba diving. At the time car-sharing was routine.
I no longer have a petrol vehicle. I sold my scooter when the front elements needed replacing for over 500 CHF. I also replaced the petrol car with an electric car when the distribution was going to cost over 2300 CHF. This happened right as this fuel crisis was starting and I promise you that getting rid of a petrol car, just at that moment, felt great.
The greatest irony, to me, is that the cost of fuel went up a few years ago, and it never went down again. People, psychologically are used to the very high cost of petrol at the moment and think nothing of it. That’s why habits don’t change, especially in Switzerland. People now see 2 CHF to 2.30 CHF as normal for petrol and diesel respectively.
I’m glad I shifted to driving an EV and that running and cycling allow me to do more, straight from home. I went to a book club discussion by running on Tuesday, and tomorrow I’m driving the EV to Morges for a run. With a petrol car that little joke would be increasingly expensive. With an EV prices might head downwards.
The reality of the situation is that, because I drove so little, especially due to the pandemic, I never got used to petrol above 1.79 CHF so when it got to 2 CHF per litre, and 2.08CHF per litre it seems absurd. For someone that refuels every week, for years, that increase was like death by a thousand cuts. If the change is over a few years there is no shock. I was shocked, so I had little to no desire to continue using a petrol car, hence the happy switch to an electric vehicle.
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