Electric Dreams. 12/27/2004
I almost fell off my chair laughing this morning reading about this.
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2004/12/9/nation/9610829&sec=nation
The Minister of Transport was elaborating about the reasons why such a vehicle would not (rightly) be allowed on local roads. He stated that the effective top speed of the electric powered bike was too low for gazetted roads, and would present a danger to users of the bike and other road users. Which is perfectly correct.
He went on further to state that such a vehicle was not able to be registered (and this is the part that got me laughing) because, and I quote, “under the Act, vehicles to be registered must carry clear chassis and engine serial numbers, and the rates of road tax to be imposed were based on the horse power (cc) of the vehicles. ”
In case his secretaries, directors-general, officers and other assorted flunkies neglected to inform him, horse power is the measure of the power output of an engine. Cubic capacity, or c.c., is the volume of an internal combustion engine, which is measured by using the formula πr²h multiplied by the number of cylinders. Wankel engines are measured using swept volume multiplied by the number of cylinders. Which is something entirely different from horsepower, defined as work done per unit of time, in the case of horse power, 550 foot pounds per second.
In this country, vehicles are assessed a tax rate based on the capacity of the engine, on the reasoning that large capacity engines weigh more and will consume more, which is partly true. But you can also get a 2 liter engine pumping out well over 200 h.p., consuming as much fuel as a 4.0 liter engine, but being taxed less. Large capacity engines are useful, because they make their power at a lower r.p.m, and are more relaxed to drive. Small, high powered engines tend to be ’screamers’. Large engines also make more power at lower road speeds, and have more readily available torque ‘on tap’. All which add up to a safer, driver friendly driving experience.
What the Minister probably meant to say that that the electric bike was not able to be taxed because there was no way to measure the cubic capacity (c.c.) of the engine. Which is really crap, because although electric motors are measured in terms of their power output, in Kilowatts, they also have windings, magnets and housing volumes, any of which can be used to impose a tax rate.
I wonder what the Minister will do when hybrid and pure electric cars start appearing on local roads.