Luton to Loch Ness
To the Editor,
I write to you today in a state of simultaneous outrage and bemusement at the news that Vauxhall is shutting down its EV plant in Luton — a decision that, I’m sure, is already sending shockwaves as far north as the Scottish Highlands. How, I ask, are these two things connected? The answer, as always, is “not entirely,” yet undeniably so.
Let us begin in Luton, where the dream of electric vehicles quietly stalls in a factory that will soon hum no more. The EV plant’s closure, we are told, may hinder the UK’s push toward sustainable travel. But does it? Or has the real problem been that no one has yet devised an electric car with enough range to cross the Highlands without stopping to charge at a single, windblown plug-point guarded by a curious sheep?
Meanwhile, in the Highlands themselves, the implications are vast and vaguely undefined. Will the lack of new Vauxhall EVs lead to an influx of less sustainable vehicles wheezing up and down the glens, coughing exhaust fumes into the crisp air? Or will resourceful Scots take to crafting their own eco-friendly transport solutions? One imagines a fleet of tartan-clad bicycles powered entirely by the strength of national pride.
And what of the factory workers in Luton? Will they, too, head north, finding employment as charging-station custodians or loch-side sustainability consultants? Or, more likely, will they become the world’s first experts in converting used Vauxhall EVs into something entirely new, like amphibious camper vans for off - grid Highland adventures?
In the end, this news raises more questions than answers. Does sustainable travel truly depend on Vauxhall, or are we simply looking at the wrong map? Should we mourn the loss of the plant or embrace it as a challenge to invent new, impractical modes of travel?
Yours in disconnected confusion and renewable optimism,
A Traveller of Tangential Thought Trails