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Electricity, we're told, will be in short supply this winter and demand will soon outstrip generation capacity at peak times.

Petrol has also gone up (yet again), making a big dent in the budgets of those who are forced to commute to and from their jobs on a daily basis.

Even worse, an increasing amount of our transport fuel is being consumed for no purpose, as vehicles sit motionless in congested traffic flows brought about by the barely adequate roading systems surrounding our larger urban centres.

As usual, politicians are full of promises and rhetoric. They claim that by adding extra taxes or allowing the power companies to hike their prices much faster than the rate of inflation, things will get better -- but they won't

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Now, call be crazy, but I think it's about time we actually did something about these problems.

Perhaps the first thing we ought to do is come to the realisation that, for day-to-day commuting and personal transport, the average Jap import car or SUV is overkill and a massive burden on our meagre resources.

I've been working with composite materials (mainly fibreglass and carbon-fibre) for the past couple of years, I see immense potential for us to significantly improve the practicality of our personal transport vehicle (PTV) fleet.

What's needed is a home-grown PTV which is small, light and (therefore) fuel-efficient.

The design and manufacture of such a thing is well within the capabilities of our industry and would not only allow more efficient use of our existing roads but also dramatically slash the cost of our transport fuel import bill.

Of course NZ's track record in the area of locally designed and built vehicles isn't exactly glowing -- but that was a long time ago and I think we've all learned a lot since then.

Since the government is currently running a surplus that is in excess of $6bn and is otherwise faced with spending a huge chunk of dosh on upgrading our urban roading -- maybe a better use of that money would be to promote interest in the creation of a locally manufactured PTV.

I'm thinking of a small composite vehicle which could either be all electric (using Lithium ion batteries), hybrid, or just powered by a small internal combustion engine (we're not short of Kiwi designs here either). We could even fuel them with ethanol, biodiesel, or other locally produced fuels to further increase our energy self-sufficiency.

Make them small enough and you also start solving the inner-city parking problem because you'd fit two of them in a regular-sized parking space.

Even if government were to subsidise the cost of such vehicles by making them GST-free, dropping the registration fee to $50 or simply reducing the tax-take on fuel used to run them then they could really take off.

Make them stylish enough, do a bit of marketing in the right circles and they might even become a "must have" for the in set -- in the same way that the Toyota Prius and other "green" cars have become the latest bling for movie stars in the USA.

Sure, there's always the risk that we'd end up with something like a Lada -- and I'm aware that similar initiatives overseas have often produced nothing more than an ugly lemon that nobody wants but if it's done properly I think the time might be right for such a vehicle.

I know, what about the government stumping up with $1m by way of a "challenge" that would see the designer and builder of such a vehicle rewarded for their efforts?

All the vehicles entering the challenge could be toured around NZ and shown to the public who could then contribute to the selection process by voting on such things as aesthetics, practicality and desirability. This public consultation process would also act as a form of focus group so that prospective manufacturers could determine the viability of the market.

One thing's for sure -- we can't just sit around and wait for a bunch of civil servants to drink coffee and eat donuts while the lights go out -- can we?

And tomorrow I'll tell you how we can help solve the electricity crisis.

Free Advertising!
Yes, while I sort out the issue of sponsorship, I'm offering loyal Aardvark readers the chance to have their venture advertised for free on these pages.

If you send me your 150x150 banner (no more than 20KB) and a URL to point at, I'll put it in a rotation to appear in the area currently allocated to sponsorship.

Because of my government-imposed state of impoverishment, I won't be charging for this exposure and there's no obligation to anyone -- but neither are their any promises ;-)

Drop me a line if you'd like to take advantage of this.

Did you notice
As eagle-eyed readers will have noticed, sponsorship of this fine blog/column is up for grabs.

Those who have already made enquiries about sponsoring Aardvark should hear back from me this week - and anyone else who might like to do so should drop me a line ASAP.

Tell us all and see what others have to say in The Aardvark Forums

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