In response to Al Liebeskind’s letter of March 3 entitled “Senate Republicans need to wake up,” I believe he is missing several key aspects of an electric vehicle that makes it impractical for many people, and not so green. I have a 40-amp charger in my garage to charge up the battery on a regular basis. If you live in a townhouse or apartment without a garage, or any residence where you park on the street, then this is not feasible. Your only option is to regularly go to a public charger station, which requires time to charge the battery and the potential risk of waiting for charging station while in use by other drivers. It also costs much more than home electricity.
Secondly, there is the issue of miles per charge. I believe the estimated and advertised mileage for a full charge of any electric vehicle is less than its gasoline equivalent. Furthermore, the mileage estimate provided by the auto companies is rarely attained in real life. Stop-and-go traffic will decrease your mileage considerably, as will driving in the cold weather where battery efficiency drops as the temperature drops. In the case of electric pickup trucks, studies have shown that when towing a full load, the mileage per charge drops drastically.
Thirdly, the argument that EVs are green is far from true when you considerate the production of batteries, especially the mining for lithium, the disposal of the toxic elements in batteries at their end of life, and the generation of electricity for the charging stations. EVs certainly offer a promise for the future, but it is naive to not consider the practical issues today as well as ignoring the serious green issues in the production and disposal of the batteries and the generation of electricity to charge the batteries in operation.
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