Gary Southon raises a valid point concerning fossil fuels and our reliance on them, but help is at hand: hydrogen fuel is the future and is here now – see the current advertisement on TV by Hyundai for their hydrogen powered car, and the public release of this vehicle at the recent Mystery Creek was widely accepted by the farming community as being the way forward.

Hydrogen and its derived fuel (extracted from water and thus endless supply) is totally non-polluting. Battery driven electric vehicles, EVs, are a motoring blind alley.

They have gained wide massive publicity that cleverly avoids the claimed but untrue range and charging problems, and also completely overlooks the real environmental problems with Lithium-ion battery production and disposal; with a new vehicle life of some 15 years the battery needs replacing after about half of that, so who pays for the new battery at several thousand dollars and disposal of the old one? Go figure. So, relax Mr Southon, help is here.

Phil Hickling, Papamoa Beach