JOHN CUMBERLAND, (HAS, June 27) is blaming the wrong people for the decisions on electric cars and other environmentally friendly measures.

The various dictionaries define a ‘boffin’ as a British term for a person engages in scientific or technical research, we usually deal in verifiable facts or justifiable opinions and very rarely attempt to compel people to follow a particular course.

No, the guilty parties are the political classes who half-listen to the boffins but prefer to follow their own prejudices and listen to whichever shouts loudest.

There were the odd technically qualified politicians, Margaret Thatcher was a chemical engineer, but, in general they have such confidence in their own opinions that professional advice is ignored as is anything that only has effect after the next general election.

Usually, the politicians won’t be around long enough to suffer the consequences of their actions.

He complains about the amount of electricity taken by car charging points, yes, it’s a lot but it’s far more important to control when the charging takes place, smart remote control chargers can allow charging to take place out of peak time to alleviate this.

It’s actually possible to vary charging prices to encourage charging at times of low demand to help the National Grid.

It is possible to generate zero-emission electricity, solar, wind, nuclear but often there is a cost to the environment or our pockets.

He’s wrong in stating that there are diesel vehicles that produce no harmful emissions, all combustion engines produce carbon dioxide which is believed to be a driver of climate change, it’s only the production of other chemicals or particles that are reduced in modern vehicles. He suggests that we go for people-powered vehicles, many of us do, we call them bicycles!

Anthony J Foster, Peterlee