State needs to start planning now for electric vehicles

To The Daily Sun,

What is nearly silent, gets over 100 miles to the gallon equivalent, and has no tailpipe?

Each year, EV battery technologies improve and production costs decline. Companies, municipalities, and the state should all be planning to go electric with their next vehicle purchases.

SB275, currently up for a vote in the New Hampshire House, directs that, “to the extent feasible and practicable, all vehicles purchased and leased by the State be zero emission vehicles by the year 2041.”

We have no time to waste in decarbonizing our society. About one-third of our energy used in New Hampshire is for transportation. The state needs to start planning now for these purchases and to provide the charging stations.

The market for electric vehicles is distorted by decades of fossil fuel subsidies and regulations that don’t charge gasoline users for the costs of vehicle emissions, especially the greenhouse gases. Quite simply, we have cheap gas now because our children will have to pay for our mistakes later. If the state takes the lead in going electric, costs will come down for all of us. Take a deep breath!

Sarah Thorne

Gilmanton