Ed. Note: This letter is in reference to material from the City of Greater Sudbury that was published in the “Green Living” insert distributed in the May 19 edition of Northern Life
The “Charge it” article seems to be touting the electric car as the solution towards “clean” transportation. However, there are serious issues with electric cars that the article omits.
First, the electric car is not as environmentally friendly as claimed: depending where it is used the total reduction in greenhouse gases will range from 0% to 10% over its lifespan compared to a similar gas powered car.
Secondly, the convenience: refuelling my car, almost anywhere, takes only 5-10 minutes for a 600 km range with little difference between -30 C or +30 C. In contrast, for that range the electric car would require 2 overnight charges with doubts of reliability at -300 C.
Thirdly, is the expense of implementing the technology, it could not occur without generous subsidies to the manufactures and the (rich) consumers.
A simpler, less costly and readily available solution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector is the vehicle power reduction. The 2016 model replacing my 2000 model has 60% more power and a plethora of resource-intensive gizmos. Its fuel consumption is marginally above mine.
Had these technologies been used to manufacture the newer model with the same power output as the older, the emission reduction could have been easily 15% to 30%. The semi-trucks will burn about 1 liter of fuel per ton per 100 kms while cars will do about 7 liters, this is mainly due to the power to weight ratio.
While I do not want to drive a car needing 90 seconds for a 0 to 100 if we cared truly about the environment, we could forfeit the pleasure of knowing we can peel off from every stop.
Alex Gorski
Sudbury, Ontario