Automakers’ EV hurdles self-made

TO THE EDITOR:

Regarding “Toyota downgrades EV forecast in quest of record profits; quarterly net income nearly triples,” autonews.com, Nov. 1: Toyota downgrades its electric vehicle sales projections by 39 percent as automakers run into roadblocks on the EV transition highway? Their hurdles are entirely self-made; they ignored both history and concerns about their biggest EV ownership disincentive: the lack of a reliable nationwide public charging network. 

Gasoline beat out electricity about 110 years ago as the dominant source of power for vehicles after it became available nationally. Electricity is available now all over the U.S., but EV owners can’t get at it because of the lack of reliable public charging. Until then, EV owners need long extension cords. 

Set up a reliable charging network, and the most serious “hurdle” EV automakers seem incapable of overcoming evaporates: “range anxiety.” It is always misdefined as how far an EV goes on one charge; it’s actually whether an EV owner can charge the vehicle wherever they go. Fail to build a network, and EVs will have a shorter future than they had about a century ago.

NORMAN HIGBY, Menlo Park, Calif.