I was sad to see Tux Turkel, an admirable journalist, rely primarily on Toyota, the world’s leading producer of gasoline and hybrid vehicles, to promote hybrids over electric vehicles (“Is Maine’s drive for all-electric vehicles bad climate policy?” July 16). Numerous studies show that not only are hybrids worse for the environment than EVs, but they can also be worse than gasoline cars.
A hybrid is more environmentally friendly than an EV in city-only driving, where electricity comes from coal. That’s the case in only 5% of the world’s grids, and grids are becoming cleaner and cleaner.
In city driving, hybrids rely primarily on their batteries: when driving at lower speeds or idling in urban traffic, they burn little to no gasoline. But studies show that hybrid drivers don’t charge their vehicles’ batteries often enough for them to rely solely on electricity, and they drive mostly outside of cities. Longer range is the main reason people buy hybrids over EVs, but the average range of a hybrid’s battery is only 29 miles. Drain the battery or drive at higher speeds, and you’re driving a gasoline car that’s heavier and less efficient than a comparable gas-only car.
I suggest that if Turkel had read the studies published by Argonne National Laboratory, the EPA, or in Nature Sustainability, Nature Communications, Energy, Applied Energy, The Journal of Industrial Ecology, Transport & Environment, or Environmental Science and Technology, he would have reached a different conclusion. In most instances, a hybrid is less environmentally friendly than an EV and often worse than a gasoline car.
David Kuchta
Portland
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