Wishful thinking
Steve Parsons’ “pie in the sky” article about the joys, benefits and affordability of converting Kaua‘i to an all-electric vehicle fleet is shallow, shortsighted and misleading.
He implies that changing over to EVs will be quick and easy, and everyone will get a free gift from Uncle Sam. Electricians will all be getting jobs and all will be sunshine and roses on Kaua‘i.
Parsons, however, fails to address many concerns with a shift to an all-electric fleet on the island.
For example, what will happen to electricity rates when thousands of new EVs start plugging into the already capacity-taxed Kaua‘i grid? Islanders are already facing a potential 10 percent increase in power costs this year alone. How high will rates go once thousands of EVs begin plugging in?
Also, how will the local co-op meet the additional demand? How will that additional capacity be produced, and who pays for the expansion of electricity production on the island? Can the additional demand be produced cleanly?
And how about infrastructure? How many charging stations are there currently on the island? A few dozen? Maybe 100? An all-electric fleet, many of which will be tourists, will require literally thousands of new charging stations across the island. Who pays for those, and how will they be installed? Where will the army of hundreds of needed electricians come from? Most certainly won’t be locals, for sure.
And what about the wear and tear on Kaua‘i’s already poorly maintained highways? EVs typically weigh as much as 1,000 to 1,500 pounds more than traditional gasoline vehicles.
This additional weight means much more stress on the system, meaning more frequent and more costly repairs will be required. Once again, who pays for this?
Finally, as to the tax break on EVs, not all electric cars qualify for the break, while still others qualify for only a partial tax credit. Not exactly the windfall Parsons promises.
In the end, the conversion to an all-electric fleet will be incredibly expensive for all Kauaians. It will be particularly painful for the poorest residents of the island. Who will ease their pain?
Come on, folks. We need to think this through.
Sincerely,
Mike Gallien, Tomball, Texas
Regardless of what effort tiny Kauai does for the global warming, the atmosphere, or any other attempt at the world’s problem will not amount to a grain of sand on the beaches of the world…we a; except when it comes tore just too tiny. Except when it comes to the amount of overweight and morbidly obese Ksusi citizens taking numerous prescription drugs for their diseases allowed to ongoing with no wellness in sight for them but only a lifetime of medication with no apparent reduction in this visible island pandemic. Just look at the photos in our newspaper. There ought to be a law against obesity. Obesity is only good for medical profits, and store bought obesity food. Mahalo, Zeke
Tomball, Texas? If I were you, I would keep your nose out of Kauai’s business and worry about Texas. Have there been any chemical plant explosions or mass shootings this week yet in Texas? Most likely you are a shill for big oil. Go away.
Good points about the strain on the current electric grid. Has anyone researched what happens when the electric cars age out? Where do the batteries go? They wont break down in a landfill and are highly toxic. It takes around 50 tons of raw earth material to strip out enough rare earth metals to make one. What happens when the hurricane or tsunami comes? All those cars will be useless with no electric grid after a natural disaster.
Mike…good points.
The incessant push to EV vehicles is purely feel-good virtue signalling. These fanatics would have us believe that EVs are what will save the planet and rescue us from the dreaded “existential threat” of climate change (which has been cycling from ice age to warming periods for billions of years).
Largely, if not wholly, missing from their argument is any consideration of just where and how all this electrical energy to charge the EVs is to be produced. There is not currently (or in the foreseeable future) any cost efficient (or sufficient) means of generating the power necessary other than with fossil fuels or nuclear options. Neither do they seem to care or think about about the mining/manufacturing required for the production of batteries and where the power comes from to carry on those activities.
So all these people are doing is exporting-i.e. externalizing-their emissions to KIUC’s (or other regional power generators’) facilities and making themselves feel good in the process. So while they make themselves out as part of the solution, in fact they are doing nothing at all to alleviate the non-problem of climate change.
RSW