to the editor: I found George Skelton's column too biased in favor of gasoline cars (“Californians are angry about Newsom's push to ban gas-powered cars,” July 20). Several of his statements do not tell the whole story.
in californiaCharging an electric vehicle at home typically costs about $10 per 100 miles, compared to about $18 per 100 miles to fuel a gasoline car. Those are substantial savings. Pure electric vehicles also do not require oil changes and generally have fewer routine maintenance costs.
Additionally, charging technology is improving at a remarkable rate. New batteries and ultra-fast chargers are already reducing charging times and the technology continues to advance each year.
Imagine how much faster we could improve charging infrastructure and make electric vehicles more affordable if our national energy policy focused as much on accelerating clean transportation as it has on supporting the fossil fuel industry.
We should be having an honest discussion about the strengths and weaknesses of both technologies, not a discussion that selectively highlights the drawbacks of electric vehicles and overlooks their real advantages.
Mark Winkler, Studio City
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to the editor: I'm a lifelong outdoorsman and environmentalist member of the Sierra Club for 54 years, but I don't agree with the idea that electric vehicles are the way to go. To the point mentioned in the column, there is no way my parents and I could have spent our annual summer vacation with electric vehicles. Most days, we drove 100-200 miles on both main streets/highways and country roads. Part of the fun was actually seeing this country, as well as the attractions that awaited us at our daily destination.
What I fully support are biofuels. I am waiting for the time when those various forms of environmental energy become mass commercialized.
Gail Noon, Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia.
