Battery Electric Cars Will Still Need Charging

Tag : charging plug

A Power Trade-Off
Regarding "U.S. Energy Policy Needs A Zap" (Commentary, June 22):
George Moon, founder of a battery manufacturing company, said thatpoliticians and policymakers alike will find the answer to ourenergy problems in the "magic pill" of electric cars.
However, he failed to point out that using battery electric cars,not hybrids, require plug-in charging.
Plug-in charging means using electricity from a home or similarsource. Therefore, he suggests trading high oil and gas prices forhigh electricity costs.
A recent Forbes article points out that since the last energycrisis in October 1973, America's oil consumption has increased 15percent while our electricity consumption is up 115 percent due tothe electric gadgets we use and larger houses which need to be litand cooled.
According to the Edison Electric Institute, 49 percent of ourcountry's electricity is powered by coal.
Consequently, the use of electric cars will eventually add toemissions and pollution through the smokestacks of the coal-poweredelectric generation plants.
While electric cars may provide a partial solution, there is nosingle solution to our energy issues, there are always trade offs.
GARY GRESHAM
Tampa
Electricity Still Needed
It seems that everyone has an ax to grind when it comes to ourenergy policy.
George Moon, as the ex-CEO of a battery company, obviously wants tosell batteries. After reading his rather lengthy column "U.S.Energy Policy Needs A Zap" (Commentary, June 22), I think he missedthe point entirely.
Sure, electric cars are great and when battery technology gets tobe affordable, safe and reliable, I'm going to buy one. Butsomebody has to generate the electricity to recharge thosebatteries, and therein lies the rub. I've read that to replace theentire fleet of U.S. cars and trucks with electric-powered vehicleswill require that we double our present electrical generationcapacity. Solar and wind can't generate sufficient amounts to doit.
Our choices will come down to coal, gas, oil or nuclear, whichbrings us back to the nub of the problem. All of these have theirpros and cons. The debate should focus on which or how much of eachkind should we use.
Forget batteries. They will have their day once the electricalcapacity to recharge them is there.
LARRY ALTER
Seminole
Contest Is Too Late
Regarding "McCain's Energy Plan Calls for New Car Battery"(Business, June 24):
John McCain's battery contest is too late. There are already fourlithium battery makers that can do this now; they just need ordersto go from preproduction to full production.
What's really needed is good electric vehicle designs, as one cango 80 mph and get 100-mile ranges on regular golf cart leadbatteries with no new technology needed.
Since Detroit won't build them because they have few parts to makemoney from and last forever, we need to mandate 50 mpg CAFEstandards in 5 years. This can be done by bringing their Europeancars here and building EVs and plug-in hybrids.
And battery patents need to be watched. ChevronTexaco bought theNiMH battery patents and wouldn't let anyone build EV-sizebatteries, stopping EVs for 10 years. We need to make sure thatdoesn't happen again.
The technology is here; we just need to do it. Thousands drive EVsevery day which we build ourselves; why can't Detroit build themtoo?
JERRY DYCUS
Riverview