Can someone please explain why the City Council unanimously approved a $75,000 contract with ICF, Inc. to develop a master plan for converting the City’s fleet to electric vehicles (EV’s)? I realize that climate fundamentalism has taken over almost every facet of our lives, but can we please be more judicious about green-lighting (pun intended) electric vehicles for the City right now, in 2022?
Our city already owns a fleet of cars and purchasing EV’s is an extremely expensive proposition. The price of nickel, a major component in lithium-ion batteries has soared while Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has added to already surging raw material costs of other components. In addition, the hours it takes to charge these vehicles is completely inefficient.
This appears to be a very expensive virtue-signaling stunt that certainly can be looked at further down the road when efficiency and cost of EV’s has been improved. (Which I’m sure will occur over time.) And while I’m at it, why should taxpayers have to pay for additional charging stations throughout the city? Taxpayers didn’t have to empty their pockets to build gas stations. This is an abuse of the public trust. Virtue signal with your own money, not mine!
Katy Norton, Laguna Beach
Amen Katy, I did not know the CC did this, it is a environmental disaster and what happens with the grid, the battery is so toxic and where will we put all these batteries, now we have to have charging stations and in the mean time we will be having black outs..not thought out at all and we the resident will pay for it. Bad decision as usual.