KEEP THE EV TAX CREDIT

Electric vehicles need state subsidy

Wait, did Denver and the northern Front Range area finally meet the EPA ozone standard, thus obviating the need for the state to foster clean energy industries that protect the environment? No, it has not.

According to the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission, Denver region air can be unhealthy and has almost continuously exceeded the federal ozone standard since the early 2000s.

Federal and state tax credits are still necessary to make electric cars (Chevrolet Volts, Nissan Leafs, etc.) affordable (about $20,000) for many people.

They also serve to counterbalance billions of dollars in continuing subsidies received by the oil and gas industry — a 100-year-old enterprise.

The electric vehicle tax credit is far from having fostered the market penetration necessary to displace the damaging environmental and health impacts of fossil-fuel burning cars and trucks. Rob Williams, Golden

Colorado’s subsidy for electric vehicle sales makes as much sense today as it did when it was originally enacted. I would hope that the “compelling public interest” to protect our environment and climate has not waned yet. Repealing a tax credit that is already set to expire in 2021 sends the wrong message to consumers. We need more environmentally conscious cars on the road, not fewer. While electric cars may no longer be in their infancy, they may well be in their adolescence. And while the price of electric cars has come down in recent years, they are still more expensive to purchase and much more expensive to maintain than their gasoline counterparts. If electric cars are expected to be “as cheap as their traditional counterparts by 2025,” then let’s wait until 2021 at the earliest to allow this credit to expire — instead of repealing it early. Virginia Christensen, Westminster