EDITOR:

A reply to an article in the editorial page of the Escanaba Daily Press.

Steve Moore’s article on drivers giving a thumbs down to electric vehicles

There is an old axiom, ‘Build a better mouse trap and the world will beat a path to your door.’

There are a number of points that I agree with in Moore’s article, first, “I’ve driven a Tesla, and they are wonderful smooth-driving vehicles” and second,“They have a problem, too, such as getting stranded with no juice in the middle of nowhere”

I own a Chevy Bolt, which is a 100% electric vehicle and find that they are a very smooth-driving, quiet, extremely fast accelerating vehicles. I would say that once you have driven an electric vehicle, you most probably will not go back to an internal combustion vehicle. I say this with a couple of reservations (at the moment), which brings us to Moore’s second point. “Getting stranded in the middle of nowhere.”

The vehicles that have been produced will give you about a 250 mile range, with an alert when you hit 40 miles left, so you can stop and recharge. In the year and a half of owning the Bolt, I have never been stranded! I fully realize my charging limitations as I have a charging app on my phone so I know the charging stations around me. Take away 90% of the fossil fuel stations around the U.S. and you would have the same thing for internal combustion engines. But, in that same year and a half, charging stations for EVs have substantially increased as the charging time has decreased. The Meijer store in Escanaba, for example, has a station that will charge at 300 miles in one hour. As more electric vehicles get on the road, you will find Moore’s criticism of getting stranded in the middle of nowhere disappear. So, what is left? My wife and I, drive our Bolt 90% of the time. In this time, we have driven over 24,000 miles and saved some $2,800 in fuel, with no oil changes. I will also, add that we run 100% on the sun, since we have a 9kW solar system and charge using our home 110 volt charger. But, even if you paid 25 cents a kWh @ 4 miles per kWh and if your present vehicle gives you 30 miles per gallon, you would have to pay $1.88 per gallon to equal driving an EV. Sounds like a better mouse trap to me.

Gerry Nelson

Bark River