OPINION – Former Chilliwack-Kent MLA Laurie Throness posted an op/ed piece to his personal Facebook page about the pros of electric cars. FVN asked Throness if he would like this to be an opinion piece on FVN, and he agreed.
BTW – Throness now does volunteer work and study.
From Laurie Throness:
Everyone’s talking about electric cars. Besides their cost, the main objection to them seems to be that we won’t have enough power to charge them. Here are a few thoughts about it.
Think of what the smartphone has replaced. Cameras, tape recorders, radios, hi-fis, calculators, paper maps and books, shopping, clocks and watches, calendars: the list goes on, and the market supplied it all, silently, quickly, seamlessly, with little government planning or cost and, I’m sure, at a net savings to the consumer. Think of the time and gas that GPS alone has saved you!
The lesson is this: trust the market. A recent study showed that an electric semi-trailer truck is 83% cheaper to run than the diesel version. The writing is on the wall – the future is electric.
How will we charge our electric cars and trucks? A 2018 study found that the roofs at the University of BC could deliver 490 million kilowatt-hours of solar power per year, enough to power 140,000 electric cars. There are hundreds of acres of flat industrial rooftops throughout Vancouver – and that’s just one option for supply.
So don’t worry about the future. If you want an electric car, buy one. If you want one but can’t afford one, just wait. The market will recognize this, too, and make a car to fit your budget, including the means to charge it.
Here’s what governments can do: create a structure for power generation, require high standards – then get out of the way and let the market perform its magic.
Just as a 65 inch HD flat screen TV is better than the old 26 inch tube, life with electric cars will be better than before. Way better.
Mr Throness Suggested reading:
https://www.torquenews.com/14335/staggering-economics-tesla-semi
Laurie Throness Sept 2020
