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American electric car?

To the Journal editor:

In the recent focus on climate change, we may have missed what’s been happening in the private sector. Renewables have become cost competitive and more money is being invested in these endeavors.

We are at a crossing point regarding electric cars. By 2025, all new cars are projected to be electric which last longer and require less maintenance, shrinking the overall demand.

This revolution does not stop there. By 2030, driverless taxis will become dominant, impacting our need for car ownership. This will further shrink the demand for cars by an estimated 80 percent. The huge decrease in demand means only two or three automakers will be needed to fill the demand.

While this revolution will significantly reduce the cost of transportation by $5,000 per household, the question remains: will the American car makers make the cut? The 2008 recession undercut the lead American car makers had in developing and producing electric cars.

Currently, our policy of subsidizing fossil fuels puts the U.S. at a disadvantage, since the demand for efficient cars is lower here given the artificially low price of fuel.

Additionally, China, in an attempt to reduce pollution, has a huge campaign to promote electric cars by giving significant subsidies for Chinese-made electric cars. We are in a race to see who will dominate the car industry.

Our chances to prevail can be greatly increased if we can influence American consumers to buy clean and efficient electric cars. An increase in demand will provided the necessary capital to invest in the development and production of electric cars.

We have before Congress a carbon pricing bill which will raise the price of fossil fuels and return the fees to households which will be the solution to keep our companies dominant.

Ask U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman, R-Watersmeet, to support H.B. 463.

RONALD MARSHALL

Petoskey

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