A major component of the Federal Government's new 'Green Car' strategy involves subsidising R&D efforts here to produce more fuel efficient vehicles. One positive result from this has been Toyota's decision to begin local production of the hybrid Camry at Altona in early 2010.

This programme has caused senior figures in both industry and government to predict a move to all-electric vehicles within the next decade. Unfortunately for those genuinely concerned about the environment, however, such a shift in car buying trends may increase rather than decrease the level of pollution associated with automotive transport.

This claim seems counterfactual given the enormous global marketing effort being made by interests associated with electric cars. Such vehicles, we are told by companies such as Better Place, or Industry Minister Kim Carr, are apparently 'zero emission' and hence good for air quality. Well, in Victoria at least, nothing could be further from the truth.

Unlike hybrids, all-electric cars require external mains power in order to recharge their batteries. And while much is being made about how such recharging could be done at night, when cheaper off-peak electricity is available, most people associated with the automotive industry are ignoring the proverbial elephant in the corner of the room, ie that over 95% of Victoria's mains electricity is derived from burning brown coal. Due to its high water and sulphur content, this type of coal happens to be one of the most polluting fossil fuels on earth.

If all the vehicles on our roads were to cease using petrol and diesel tomorrow, and be replaced by mains powered electric equivalents, our existing power grid would buckle and fail under the load. Given the state's massive coal reserves, a solution does of course exist – but it would involve building several new versions of Loy Yang A, something at which genuine environmentalists may baulk. Some people might think, of course, that shifting car exhaust pollution from the cities to Gippsland (where the coal lies) is a good thing. If, however, greenhouse gas emissions are a global problem, however, then moving them a couple of hundred kilometres East of Melbourne really does nobody any good.

For electric vehicles to provide a true breakthrough in transportation efficiencies, our R&D focus needs to shift from cars to large scale power generation that avoids the use of brown coal. Existing technologies include both hydro (unlikely if the drought persists) and nuclear (politically still unpalatable). Potential new technologies include geo-sequestration (which involves little more than burying CO2 and hoping it doesn't escape) and geothermal (problematic given the large distances between appropriate power sources and population centres).

At present electric cars are being developed for countries which have embraced nuclear power as their emission free source of electricity.

Until we come up with an alternative, then any government money being spent on electric vehicle development remains yet another waste of taxpayer funds.