It is unfortunate that some readers are laughing about electric cars. Many of the problems they cite, like lack of charging stations and high price of EVs and batteries, are things that would improve if more people adopted EVs and provided incentive and funding for research and development. Instead, their negativity about EVs is helping to perpetuate the very problems they describe.
Like many issues, this one has gotten wrapped up in politics. One reader mentioned “following the herd” of the Green New Deal, implying EVs are driven by liberal zombies who feed on your freedom. If climate change concerns make you laugh, consider instead that the money you spend on gasoline may be supporting OPEC nations that fund terrorist groups that seek to destroy America. (That doesn’t seem so funny.) Consider the jobs that might be created making EVs here in the USA instead of importing most of our cars from places like China and Japan. If you want to make America great, maybe stop sending money to our enemies and competitors.
They are right that electricity doesn’t grow on trees, but it sometimes comes close - you can choose an electricity supplier right now in Sussex county that sources all of its energy from hydroelectric power sources. If more people demanded this, more renewable or cleaner energy options would become available, and prices would drop. But even if the electricity to charge your EV is generated from fossil fuels, the generation process at a centralized power plant may be cleaner and more efficient than what goes on under the hood of your car.
It is true that some scarce materials go into EV batteries, but these same materials also go into cell phone and power tool batteries that no one seems to be complaining about. Again, support for EVs will lead to innovation in battery technology.
Oil took millions of years to form in the Earth and its supply is limited; it is estimated that we now only have between a 50 and 250 year supply of oil left. You can keep burning it up in your pickup truck and leave the problem to your descendants to deal with, or you can do something about it now. Unfortunately, the EV opponents are making shortsighted choices based mostly on their own personal cost savings and convenience, at the expense of future generations. Sadly, this will be their Green New Deal: “Sorry kids, we used up all the oil. DEAL WITH IT!”
When cars came on the scene around 1900, Americans weren’t so interested in giving up their horses and bicycles for the new smoke-belching vehicles without paved roads, gas stations, or spare parts to support them. But the rapid adoption of cars despite this led to the growth of the automobile infrastructure that EV opponents are enjoying today. EVs will likely happen with or without you. Wouldn’t it be nicer to tell your grandchildren that you helped make it happen?
David Wexler
Hamburg, NJ