Where o where have all the electric vehicles gone?

We loved our two Taragos so much. They weren't beautiful (unlike the vermillion McLaren I see zooming through our suburban streets every Saturday). They weren't heroically practical like the various chunky utes we all see on our roads. And they didn't have the vibe of the various phat SUVs (Land Rover, I'm looking at you).

But you could pack two parents, three kids, three friends, six bikes and endless snacks and Raggy, as we called both vehicles, would go for endless kilometres, so long as you filled up at the servo twice a week. Our spending on petrol was just behind our spending at the supermarket, especially when we factored in travelling distance for three different team sports.

My beloved took the Tarago in for a service when it hit 300k on the odometer and asked if the dealership would be baking a cake to celebrate the milestone: "Nah, but we can give you a good trade-in."

Shortly after that, Raggy kicked the bucket. That was just as our youngest moved out, and so too did the need to have such a big car.

Our spending on petrol was so massive I desperately wanted to buy a Prius, which was the first hybrid vehicle available in Australia. Turned out that it was very expensive compared to other small cars and its battery had a life expectancy. All batteries do - but this one wasn't the kind you could replace for a couple of hundred bucks. We ended up with a small, utterly useless European car which looked better than it drove.

Enter the hybrid RAV4. Petrol bills dropped dramatically. Works all the time. Service cheap. But when I gave the compulsory end-of-first-year feedback, I said I wish Toyota had its own properly electric car and not one which relied on fossil fuels.

I asked Behyad Jafari, the CEO of the Electric Vehicle Council, what the go was with the big brands dragging their feet on fully electric vehicles. In summary, they have a lot invested in petrol cars or their less polluting siblings, hybrids.

"It's been a laggard in this space," he says bluntly. And every new statement from them is to reassure customers that the next big thing is just around the corner but go ahead and buy what they offer now because you need that new car straight away.

Which is super annoying. News this week that Toyota is building pilot production lines for a new generation of batteries - solid-state batteries - due in the next three years had me very excited. It also means a viable alternative to Teslas (the whole Tesla vibe is extremely unappealing to me, not least because of its CEO Elon Musk).

So I asked Australian Community Media's Peter Brewer, who's been writing about cars since Eve was a girl (ok, maybe 40 years). And he says Toyota will never release a car that's not quite right.

"They recognised that current battery technology is not the answer."

So they are working on this new thing which is three years away.

Don't know how long before it's on the floors of every Toyota dealership. And maybe by then other legacy brands will have their EVs sorted, too. Which would be great for people who think about their car purchases in advance, unlike those who wait until the last minute, when there is little choice and no planning.

Looking in the mirror right now.

HAVE YOUR SAY: What puts you off buying an electric vehicle? Do you already own one or on to your second? Anything bug you? And what are your plans for your next car purchase? Email us: echidna@theechidna.com.au

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THEY SAID IT: "It's not just the kid who's spent every penny from his job to upgrade his car to tell the world he cares about sports cars, it's also the person driving around in a fuel-conscious hybrid electric car, because it's more a message to the world than an effective means of saving fuel, to be quite honest." Richard Hammond

YOU SAID IT: There was no way Garry was ever going to wish the internet a happy 31st birthday. Most Echidna readers agreed it had not turned out all that well. David's ABSO-BLOODY-LUTELY RIGHT!! summed up many of the responses.

Arthur argued: "The internet is a good servant but a horrible wicked master. No one has been educated on how to use the internet wisely. Shame shame shame on our governments for not making wise laws to protect ourselves from the harm of the internet. Just imagine what terrible problems motor cars would cause if there were no road rules."

And SPM says: "Self control and discipline are required - I certainly wouldn't walk around alone at night in most places or leave my house unlocked and was taught that from an early age. Turn it off and don't click without thinking."

But Ian, Jennifer and Peter all value what the internet gives us: Says Peter: "Sure there were unintended consequences as always with human nature but there certainly were substantial benefits. To name a few: communication in natural disasters, enhanced environment monitoring capability, enhanced communication at the human level, improved banking capabilities . . . a holistic view would better serve us."

Ian says that in his corner of the universe: "The internet is a huge plus . . . I take what I want and leave the rest. What I like includes my access to the Bureau of Meteorology radar, to information about the life cycle of Adelie penguins, to an international forum for model railways, to how-to-fix it videos, to online dictionaries, to the Echidna (of course), and even to eBay . . . For better or worse, society will have to learn to live with the internet as this particular genie will never be put back into its bottle."

And Jennifer reminds us that the biggest gift of the internet is access to information. "Growing up in a time when much was hidden, to be able to search and find info on almost any topic of interest is brilliant! No need for ignorance, nor the naivete that traps many when young. Zoom events during peak Covid was amazing! Global access to events and info is superb. The problems are the responsibility of governments and corporates to fix, whilst critical thinking has emerged as essential teaching in our schools, rather than being left too late ie at university."