BarrieToday welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected]. Please include your full name, daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following is in response to 'LETTER: Don't drink electric vehicle 'Kool-Aid',' published March 13.
The letter writer reports peculiar experiences, claiming that on an extended drive, the electric motor of his (unnamed) hybrid car never engaged at highway speeds and that one-half of Teslas observed took over 90 minutes to charge.
Here is some “real world” experience with both types of cars.
From 2004 until mid-2019, I exclusively drove two Prius hybrids, putting on over 400,000 kilometres. Much of that was highway driving. The electric motors contributed power repeatedly on every drive, either when I needed an acceleration boost or when I was going up hills. Perhaps the writer drove at a steady speed, downhill, during their hundreds of kilometres.
Since 2019, I have driven a Tesla Model 3 (TM3), putting on over 90,000 km. Never have I spent 90 minutes Supercharging. Doing so would make no sense as charging is rapid with a low battery and slows dramatically after the car is 90 per cent charged. Rarely has my Supercharging taken more than 30 minutes.
The writer may be confused about the same vehicles being charged. Tesla has few colour choices and only four models with most cars being like my TM3. Seeing one TM3 leave a Tesla charger and be replaced by another of the same colour is common. So, unless the writer engaged in the curious practice of recording the licence plate numbers of every charging Tesla, the report has no credibility.
My family’s 2019 Volt has been a gem, with no mechanical or electrical problems. This pluggable model was not “withdrawn;” it was replaced by the all-electric Bolt. Claiming there was a battery-related Volt recall is disinformation. The recall was of the Chevy Bolt.
Used electric vehicle batteries are not waste. They retain substantial recharging capacity and are reused for less demanding power applications, such as stationary electric storage after being charged by solar panels.
No vehicle or technology is perfect. But the electric vehicle model is superior to gas vehicles in every way. It is time for the writer and others to retire their gas vehicle along with their horse and buggy and move to the 21st century.
Ernie Gorrie
Deep Bay, B.C.
