The Editor,
Be very careful about touting the use of all electric vehicles. There is no free lunch.
A horsepower is a horsepower is a horsepower, no matter if it comes from decayed dinosaurs and vegetation or draining alpine lakes for IPP hydro projects.
There is a cost. If one wants to go from A to B faster, it takes more horsepower.
If you want to carry more weight, it takes more horsepower. If you want to make the trip more times, it takes more horsepower.
The proliferation of plug-in stations breeds a mindset one is completely green and not using horsepower by driving an electric vehicle.
Though the overall impact of all electric vehicles is calculated to be less, it is only slightly less.
Rare earth minerals for batteries require mining in sensitive areas like the Serengeti Wilderness, oil products are still used for manufacture of all the plastics required and recycling of retired vehicles presents unique problems.
Perhaps no GHG emissions produced during actual operation, but does that sufficiently offset all of the other problems?
The answer is to improve efficiency - not necessarily concentrate on fuel source. Go slower. Carry less weight. Go less often. Fix roadway congestion.
New internal combustion engines are extremely efficient and clean burning and they are not the enemy they used to be.
Hybrid vehicles are a better choice than all electric because they allow internal combustion engines to work at their peak efficiency for a much longer part of the duty cycle.
If the provincial government was truly interested in reducing emissions and fuel consumption rather than increasing revenue from taxes and insurance premiums, they would allow us to insure small hybrid vehicles and motorcycles on the same policy as larger vehicles that we may need to use periodically.
Ken Holowanky
Coquitlam
