When I was 12, I learned that electric motors are more efficient than fossil-fuel engines.

I didn’t know anything about global climate change then. I only knew about efficiency.

So I imagined a vehicle that would use electric motors. With 1960s control technology, drivers could easily set and adjust speed with rocker switches and simple displays.

The only drawback was that with 1960s battery technology, the thing would need to be the size of a school bus to go any meaningful distance.

I pursued other achievements instead.

•••

Fast forward to 2024. We now own vehicles that do what I imagined as a child, and much more.

The big difference? Size! Even a subcompact car now has ample range for ordinary trips.

The efficiency comparisons are still about the same.

Although the analysis is as complicated as the U.S. energy system, electricity is the most efficient way of moving anything from one place to another.

In 2020, Consumer Reports showed that electric vehicles (EVs) are the least costly option for those who buy new cars and keep them 200,000 miles (www.consumerreports.org/hybrids-evs/evs-offer-big-savings-over-traditional-gas-powered-cars).

Reliability is still an issue with any really complicated computer-controlled vehicle. And charging an electric vehicle on a long trip is still an adventure. But those challenges will be overcome.

Electric technology and infrastructure will continue to improve. This is the most practical future for almost all of us.

•••

Countries that adopt electric technology more quickly will be tomorrow’s dominant transportation manufacturers.

Countries that adopt electric vehicles more slowly, or outsource their technology purchases elsewhere, will import most of their vehicles.

(One history lesson: There’s a word for countries that export raw materials and import manufactured goods. They’re called colonies.)

That’s why the incentives in the Biden administration’s “Inflation Reduction Act” are both needed and wise.

These and similar measures can give us — and our democracy, if we choose to continue it — the future we need.

DAVE CUNDIFF

Ilwaco

Some technical background that didn’t fit in the letter:

Motor efficiency is complicated, but electric motors convert about 65-85% of their energy source into useful output (https://www.tytorobotics.com/blogs/articles/what-is-the-average-efficiency-of-an-electric-motor).

That doesn’t include the efficiency cost of generating the electricity. Petroleum generating plants, which are the least efficient, may have efficiencies of 35-40% (https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=667&t=3). Other electric technologies, such as the hydroelectric power used by Pacific County PUD, are much more efficient and have much lower dollar costs at present.

Gasoline engines typically have 20-40% efficiency, and diesel engines typically have 40-55% efficiency (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engine_efficiency). That doesn’t include the efficiency cost of extracting, transporting, and refining the fossil fuel products, which is really complicated (since every fossil fuel project is different) but which appears to be less than 80% efficient overall (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/es501035a).