EDITOR:
I see the Extinction Rebellion is now criticizing the City of Charlottetown for not choosing electric buses instead of diesel, when any reading of the literature will indicate that the city made the right choice in the current circumstances.
A well researched paper by the transport authorities in the Czech and Slovak Republics indicates that overall electric buses are some 22 per cent more expensive than diesel. Also, the three new $1.2 million (each) electric buses in Montreal require a $800,000 rapid charging station each, and the buses themselves and their batteries are kept warm in winter by diesel furnaces. Absurd?
A question I never hear asked is from where is the extra electricity coming. Please don’t tell me wind power, as it’s too intermittent. And as most of our power here comes from oil, coal and nuclear sources, all of which the greenies hate, what would we gain by going electric?
I’m wondering if natural gas fired conventional buses are viable for this small jurisdiction. That’s worth looking at until the day in the future when we have electric trolley buses powered by poles picking up power from overhead wires, generated by nuclear reactors.
Peter Noakes,
Charlottetown