OUR SAY: Getting by in high-price times on smell of that old, oily rag

Climate change - with its extremes of heat and, as is playing out right now, the devastating flooding in northern NSW and southern Queensland - has sharpened our awareness of the need for a radically different future.

It isn't so easy. Electric vehicles - well, at least those from Tesla - might be regularly seen on our streets these days, but this does not represent the wider story.

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Many of us might fancy the idea of having an EV in the garage but the costs remain prohibitive, with entry-level prices the same as a luxury European marque.

That sort of money is simply out-of-reach, especially as our general costs of living skyrocket alongside wage-growth stagnation.

The time will come, soon enough, as EV batteries become more affordable and efficient, but it is hard to see that in Australia until the end of the decade at the earliest.

The fact that Australia continues with a regime of emissions standards far lower than Europe - where combustion-engine vehicles run on fuel almost pristine compared with the dirty concoctions available in our bowsers - does not help as it means a global giant such as VW has no incentive to put its EVs into our market.

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Europeans are flocking to EVs, especially in the north. But their shorter distances and a suite of government incentives offering far more bite to get on board make Australia's reality the proverbial chalk to "the Continent's" finest cheese.

It all means that we are lumbered with no choice but to suffer through the extraordinarily high prices now being charged.

Standard unleaded, alone, has hit the nose-bleed $2 a litre-mark on the Border.

The price pressures emanating from oil-rich Russia's invasion of Ukraine are reaching across the globe, but it must also be remembered that Australia largely sources its overseas crude oil out of Singapore and not from the northern hemisphere.

All we can do is somehow tighten our belts and ration our travels behind the wheel, if at all possible, and hope for some relief on the horizon.

It might be quite the long road.

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