Opinion: Electric Cars aren’t going to ruin your weekend… you will!

The subject of New Vehicle Efficiency Standards (NVES) is big news in Australia, and has the potential to supercharge the transformation of Australia’s motoring landscape.

Penalising dirtier cars (in terms of carbon dioxide emissions) and rewarding cleaner vehicles that often having varying degrees of electrification to reduce tailpipe emissions can only be a good thing for the environment.

It's a logical step in cleaning up broad-scale national emissions (provided that our electricity sources go green, as well).

However, there is no doubt that the NVES goes directly against the grain of new car buying trends in Australia at the moment. Electric car ownership is growing, but it still accounts for less than 10 per cent of the total fleet. 

What is more popular than ever for new car buyers in Australia is the very thing that will likely be penalised by the NVES: four-wheel drives, utes and large SUVs. There will likely be financial penalties against most of these vehicles, which could make them more expensive to buy.

It’s already being footballed around in the political realm, with threats of ruined weekends being bandied about on one side of the chamber.

If the current crop of large off-road capable vehicles are indeed made more expensive, it’s going to be interesting to see how carmakers, car buyers and the second-hand market reacts.

But if you’re worried about your favourite pastime coming under threat in the coming years, I’m telling you there is something more ominous to worry about. And it has been happening for years.

I'm talking about track closures, limiting access to wide swathes of Australia. And I'm talking about people who continue to trash and ruin tracks and campsites around the country.

This is an opinion piece, so let’s call these rubbish-strewing people what they are: scumbags, who don’t deserve the right to visit these quieter, special parts of Australia.

These morons are ruining things for everyone else who love to spend time in the bush, giving the authorities all the ammunition they need to put up more and more gates, locking us out of our favourite places.

Toilet paper, wet wipes, smashed bottles and ruined cheap camp chairs. More often than not, you find a range of ugly rubbish at an otherwise beautiful spot. Near a beach, by a river, or atop a mountain; areas that are no longer pristine because of these people.

And don't get me started on the ones that rip grass-shredding donuts on shared land, trashing camping areas and generating immense levels of animosity from the public.

All it takes is one concerned visitor, a few pictures and an email to the authorities or local newspaper to put access to these beautiful spots at risk.

There’s plenty of diligent people who clean up after themselves, which is hugely important. This is the bare minimum requirement when you're spending time in nature.

Others will ensure they leave an area in better shape than they found it, picking up after others who are too dumb to do it themselves.

There's plenty of initiatives to get behind as well, like what Isuzu Ute Australia does through the I-Venture Club and Clean Up Australia Day.

And of course, there are others who make it their life’s mission to clean up as much rubbish as humanly possible. 

READ MORE: A young couple, an old LandCruiser and 61,000 kilograms of rubbish

This is the real risk to those who enjoy weekends away in the bush. Not your choice of vehicle, but your choice of destination. There are more and more parts of Australia being shut off, especially in government-managed National Parks.

Electric cars are coming, and carmakers will eventually crack the nut on how to make utes and four-wheel drives both electric and uncompromising. It might take some years, but don't worry about that. Worry that we are all having our favourite locations stripped away from us.

From the outside, it looks like National Parks find it easier to put up gates and limit access, rather than step in and manage some areas (which can be a costly process). State Forests, normally much more relaxed in this regard, are also on the case of limiting access in recent years.

But if people continue to trash the environment with moronic disregard, we can expect to see more gates, more bollards and and less access in the future. Our weekends will be much less adventurous or enjoyable. And we'll only have ourselves to blame.

So, what do you think? Are National Vehicle Efficiency Standards a threat to our enjoyment of this beautiful country of ours? Or should we be looking a little closer to home? Let us know in the comments below.