To the Editor:
The industry and the public do not want EVs to replace ICE on the scale governments are promoting. And, to Tavares’ point, the middle class will ultimately have no options for personal transportation, which may be the plan for all we know.
Regardless of that, the infrastructure needed to support the wide-scale adoption of electric vehicles is far greater than our grid systems can handle. Although it’s a struggle for those in California to have a stable electrical grid while we live with rolling blackouts, I can’t imagine how it will be when all of us sell, use, and work on EVs.
Yes, Tesla has taken over the luxury car market to their credit. But that’s a small portion of the overall market and an expensive one at that. Dealers who’ve had to sell Volts or Bolts saw that the market was tiny compared to the ICE models. And now, GM is requiring dealers to “invest” in equipment to service the newly introduced EVs from the mothership. So, we’ll have expensive EVs on the lot with a limited market and costly equipment in the service bays. Dealers will be left to pay for all of it.
It’s clear that unless the governments use taxes to increase incentives to everyone in the chain, it will be prohibitive for everyone and unsustainable over the long term. For right now, EVs are still a niche market, and until demand drives growth and not the government, force-feeding the market isn’t going to work.
Edwin Aldridge
Edited for length and clarity
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