To the editor: It received’t be authorities mandates that destroy the fossil gas trade; it will likely be economics and comfort. (“Trump and oil firms are mendacity to you about electrical automobiles to serve their very own pursuits,” editorial, July 23)
Within the U.S. alone, we pay $820 billion a yr in direct and oblique well being prices from our fossil gas use, about $2,500 for each American. Yearly. That doesn’t embrace environmental prices from excessive climate, misplaced crops, climate-induced migration and political destabilization, wildfires, species loss or rising, warming and acidifying seas.
My Hyundai Kona electrical car hasn’t been to a fuel station in 5 years and doesn’t want oil modifications or tune-ups. It takes me about 10 seconds a couple of occasions every week to plug in my residence charger. As soon as now we have a couple of extra public charging stations, charging will add about 45 minutes to my occasional street journeys to San Francisco or Sacramento.
Tom Hazellef, Seal Seashore
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To the editor: Sowing confusion and preying on our anxieties is alive and nicely, judging from The Instances’ editorial on electrical automobiles.
Dwelling in California, one sees how a easy authorities regulation on emissions requirements can morph right into a de facto ban, adopted by a nationwide prohibition. One good instance, courtesy of the California Air Sources Board, is the fuel can we grew up with — manufactured for generations and usable by everybody, even these bodily impaired, to refill a tank with out spilling.
Not anymore. The federal authorities adopted California’s customary in 2009, banning conventional fuel cans nationwide. This was an elimination of client alternative that’s worse for the setting.
Rinse and repeat, however now for automobiles.
Shoppers have spoken: EV gross sales are declining in California. They’re prohibitively dearer for low-income earners, and drivers are burdened with insufficient charging infrastructure — particularly in minority communities.
Shoppers deserve a alternative, not a mandate.
Matthew Gonzales, Santa Fe, N.M.
The author is southwest govt director for the Shopper Vitality Alliance, a fuel and oil advocacy group.
