To the editor:

The president has made the commitment to change all federal vehicles to electric ones. A daunting task, as there are some 645,000 such things and the feds buy some 50-60,000 new vehicles each year, according to a Jan. 29 report by Bloomberg. Add in the infrastructure needed to charge same, and it’s a huge task. Laudable idea, but under federal regulations, the purchase of said items requires that 50% or more of those products must be made in the U.S. and that they be made by union personnel. Unfortunately, those requirements cannot be met. Tesla meets the 50% parts level, but is non-union. No other U.S. car company can do so on either count. It may be quite difficult to get all the parts manufacturing plants back into the U.S., as we have extensive trade agreements that may well interfere.

Most states would find it hard to follow suit. They neither have the funds to purchase said vehicles nor the money to set up the necessary infrastructure. I wonder what it would cost the city to install a host of charging stations in public and municipal parking along with a secure method to pay for the charging. Not to say we shouldn’t try, but let’s not be Pollyanna about it. The planning, time and effort to accomplish such a goal will be extensive, not to mention the cost to taxpayers.

When the state cannot even get its unemployment system upgraded, efficient and secure, how much confidence would we have in its ability to handle this type of project?

Ken Meyer,

Lawrence