New Electric Cars Generate a Lot of Input

Your set of articles on the coming of the electric car (“Ready! Set! . . . Charge?” Aug. 7) were interesting, but nowhere could I find any serious discussion of the effects a transition to electric vehicles would have on:

1. The additional generating capacity required to recharge these vehicles: Where it would be built, the type of fuel used to produce it and whether such added capacity could be built in time to meet the demand of a mandated time table.

2. The effect on the environment of this additional generating capacity and the additional transmission lines to distribute it.

3. How we plan to handle the millions of pounds of lead and acid waste that would be generated as a result of having to replace the batteries in such vehicles every one to five years.

4. What the added outlay for the above will do to our economy and to the true operating cost of the electric auto.

While I am sympathetic to the goals of the program, I am not sure that we have adequately planned such a drastic change in the economy and lifestyle of the region. I hope we don’t regulate ourselves into a worse nightmare than we already have.

GEORGE COANDA

Santa Maria