Electric cars

To the Editor:

Here are some thoughts about electric cars. I'll start by saying they are really cool with lots of acceleration and speed.

The problems, however, are numerous and don't receive enough attention. They take hours to recharge. This is fine if you are charging overnight in your garage. But if you want to travel, even just a few hours away, you must find a charging station en route, hope no one beats you there, and then wait while your batteries are charged. Even if the promised thousands of charging stations are built across America, there will be millions of electric cars sharing the stations. So, you will wait in line, and then wait again.

What will be the source of electricity to the charging stations? Wind is unpredictable, and the sun doesn't always shine. Ergo, there can never be enough wind turbines and solar panels to charge millions of cars. Power plants will still need to burn fossil fuels. So, then a mandate to eliminate fossil fuels, until we build hundreds of nuclear power plants across the nation, doesn't make practical sense.

Solar panels, wind turbines, and batteries are not recyclable and have limited life. The rare earth components of the batteries are toxic and are, well, “rare.” Meaning green energy is not really that green and definitely not cheap. We should be careful about mandating the elimination of combustion engines until we figure out how to balance the various forms of energy in a responsible way.

Electric cars are fine in and around our homes and towns, and hybrids can be an answer for the longer trips. But there will still be a need for clean burning combustion engine autos and a need for clean fossil fuels, including natural gas, oil, and clean coal.

Jim Costello

Sonora