WARD B. MCCARTNEY III
Belen

I just read Doug Riley’s Op-ed, Electric Vehicles, Not Quite the Panacea (link). Doug’s article is a tobacco playbook, instill doubt in people, and in this case, about electric cars.

First off Doug, Tesla model Y is the bestselling car in the world, the bestselling car in Europe, and second to the Ford F150 pickup here in the US. We’re talking all cars, not just EVs.

Doug states that 63% of our electricity is produced by fossil fuel, therefore electric vehicles aren’t really pollution free. As a Co-op member, I know that Tri-State, our power provider for New Mexico co-ops, uses coal and gas generation, which is 50% of its power production. This will soon be 80% by 2030. We’re heading in the right direction, basically because wind and solar are less than half the cost, producing electricity for less than just the fuel cost of coal or gas.

Yes, mining for lithium for batteries has negative impacts. Spend the day breathing the fossil fuel polluted air in Jal, Lea County, Carlsbad, Eddy County in New Mexico. And while oil and gas once burned is gone, Redwood industries is able to recycle 98% of battery materials from EVs, computers, cell phones, cordless power tools, etc.

But the great thing about EVs, we’ve owned a Chevy Bolt for five years, they are cheap to operate and really fun to drive. With over 70,000 miles, one servicing, $29.57, basically to rotate the tires. There’s no oil changes, no gas stations, no catalytic converter to disappear. I figure that every 10,000 miles, we save $1,000. And the Chevy Bolt lists for $26,000 minus the $7,500 tax incentive, so under 20,000.

Change is difficult. But the clear change to electric cars is making all of our lives, especially our kids future, way better.