David Ecklein: Skeptical of electric vehicles due to lack of replacement part availability

To The Daily Sun,

In the Oct. 12 Laconia Daily Sun appeared an important letter by Richard Tracy of Laconia, outlining skepticism about mass electric vehicle production.

I agree with Mr. Tracy's concern about the availability of scarce materials needed for EV production on a mass scale envisioned by their promoters. In fact, he has interested me in this aspect of the EV issue to search for more details. I just now downloaded a 287-page PDF from SAE, available via Google. The materials' availability and cost will remain relatively unnoticed while EVs remain a niche market. But promoters and politicians envision a mass replacement, which I believe will be unrealistic unless other conditions change greatly; scaling up will expose the truth.

My focus and concern as an electrical engineer has been current lack of U.S. electrical infrastructure to support more than a single-digit replacement of conventional vehicles with EVs. In fact, the infrastructure is stressed to the breaking point already, and electricity is too expensive in many places (including New Hampshire). Additional demand will drive prices even higher.

EVs will not necessarily greatly reduce fossil fuel consumption, since that depends on how the electricity is generated. Also, fossil fuels (petroleum, gas, coal) are used to heat our homes, cook our food, heat water, etc. To get away from fossils, it would be necessary to convert to electric appliances as well as  vehicles. And the electricity needed will have to be generated by means other than fossil fuels — such as nuclear, hydropower, geothermal, plus some support from intermittent sources like wind and solar. I feel the need for more study and discussion before locking into bad policy, and I hope others reading this will share that feeling, including key decision makers.

David Ecklein

Laconia