Come clean on real cost of electric vehicles
Every day I hear so-called experts and electric vehicle owners tell whomever will listen how great the vehicles are for the environment and how driving an electric car is so much less expensive compared to traditional cars.
Granted electric vehicles are more expensive than their fossil fueled equivalents, but in every province there are incentives offered to purchasers by various levels of government to offset the cost of vehicles and or the installation of charging stations. These incentives and rebates are paid for by all of the taxpayers of Canada not some anonymous benefactor.
The reason, in part, for the lower operating costs is that recharging of electric vehicles is often done at free or highly subsidized publicly funded stations where available. Likewise charging at a residence is carried out at residential electrical rates which are kept artificially low to ease the burden of fluctuating electricity bills for home owners, and is also subsidized by all taxpayers who foot the bill for extremely controversial and environmentally disruptive projects such as the Site C dam. Yes, we have access to cleaner hydro electric power in this country, but if we all were to switch to electric vehicles, potentially multiple Site C dams would have to be constructed to meet the demand. With the current rate of global warming and the potential impact on weather changes that could disrupt water flows required for large hydro electric projects, those projects may turn out to be non-starters.
All of that said, there is also the cost to the environment related to the manufacture of and disposal of the batteries used in most electric vehicles marketed today. There is no form of energy that is completely free, or free of environmental impact, so maybe someone should come clean on the true cost of electric vehicles to all Canadian taxpayers and the environment. There is no free lunch, except when you’re on everyone else’s tab.
Mike Wilkinson
Duncan
