- April 17, 2024
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Dear Editor:
As a staunch professional engineer and two-decade resident of Ormond Beach, I encouraged the city consider the conversion of its fossil fuel driven
vehicles to electrified ones at the past Jan. 10 Commission meeting. I cited the following:
We know the future of powering vehicles is electric. Elon Musk pioneered the popular all-electric Tesla cars. Most, if not all of the major vehicle companies
are converting to electric. A prominent vehicle is the all-electric Ford F150. You’ve seen the ads. The movement is accelerating.
Our president strongly supports electrification of vehicles through some aggressive legislation — i.e. the Infrastructure law, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the CHIPS and Science Act.
Consumer service representatives for the Volusia County School Board and Votran have told me about their extensive research and movement in moving away from the use of fossil fuels to alternative power sources for their fleets. What a local resource we have in our community!
I raised this subject to Dwight Selby when he was a commissioner. He endorsed the idea. He mentioned the city operated some 200 vehicles.
I noted that Commissioner Tolland specifically stated that she was interested in pursuing such an evaluation during a campaigning event. I envision the city hiring an appropriate consultant to lay out the pros and cons, including life cycle cost analyses, with recommendations. Perhaps beginning with a pilot program.
There is the potential for the city to be a leader for other municipalities to move in this direction.
A key advantage in electrifying vehicles is its environmental friendliness in combating the undeniable global warming with its increasingly destructive consequences. Informed people know what the consequences are. If we don’t control the environmental demise of our planet, I may have to sign up for the colonization of Mars.
I then asked the city keep our citizenry informed of this endeavor.
Jerry A. Valcik
Ormond Beach
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