James V. Zedak – 5/14/08

This page was last updated on May 15, 2008.

Reduce our dependence on oil; James V. Zedak; Beaver County Times; May 14, 2008.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“A few days ago as I came home from work, gasoline was $3.69 per gallon. I wondered just how much higher it would go and how much further it will cripple our economy.

“That evening, I watched an interesting documentary on an electric-powered vehicle, the EV-1, developed by General Motors in the late 1990s and which GM took out of sales and destroyed as being impractical.”

[RWC] I believe Mr. Zedak is referring to “Who killed the electric car?” You probably won’t be surprised to learn the film claims conspiracies killed the EV1.

“At least one EV-1 vehicle exists in an automotive museum, as the documentary pointed out, but it was disabled by GM before the museum received it.

“Although a small company had developed an efficient battery for this vehicle, GM elected to use limited use, bulky lead acid-based batteries. To further squelch use of the more efficient batteries, it bought a majority interest in the company that produced them.

“This documentary also pointed out that development and production of an efficient electric-powered vehicle has been discouraged for years by politicians in government, no doubt influenced by the automotive and oil company lobbies.

“Consumers also played a part because they loved the big gas hogs and bought them.

“What is being encouraged is the development of hybrid vehicles that still use a gasoline engine that oil companies support to continue our dependence on oil, or use of corn-based ethanol, which will impact our food supply and is probably not as efficient or as inexpensive as gasoline.

“Isn’t it about time the struggling American working class begins to demand and accept the most practical solutions to our oil crisis and not accept what our government, oil companies and automotive industry want to ram down our throats?”

[RWC] Let’s switch to electric cars. How many power plants do we need to build to supply the needed electricity? Won’t that drive up demand for electricity (and coal and natural gas) and thus drive up the price? Do we want to use gas to heat our homes, or to power our cars? My point is not to throw a wet blanket on electric cars or any other alternative, but to point out each alternative has serious challenges to overcome.

“If we have the technology to have a successful space program, I’m sure the technology is there to significantly reduce our dependence on oil, and it shouldn’t have to cost an arm, leg or our first born to do so.”

[RWC] I guess Mr. Zedak doesn’t know that at least some oil companies (Texaco, now part of Chevron, is only one) for over 30 years have been investing in ways to burn coal cleanly and efficiently to generate electricity. Whether via oil or coal/gas/electricity, oil companies are set to fuel our cars.