LETTER: Electric vehicles are still polluters
Electric cars need to recharge after use or while traveling. They stop in a growing number of charging stations. The electricity comes from wires bringing electricity to the plug.
What is at the supplying end of that wire? A generator that can be powered by a variety of fuels: coal, natural gas, atomic, water, wind (unreliable) and solar (somewhat unreliable and available only during the day).
The power produced by wind and solar in the United States today remains below 5 percent. That emission-free EV is using polluting power, not from itself but from a power plant — but polluting, nonetheless.
In the future, when power may be available that is not polluting, electric cars may have some validity. Currently, they are just another form of transportation that has its affect on the environment.
