TO THE EDITOR:
It must be nice to live in the perfect world apparently inhabited by East Peterson-Trujillo, whose letter to the editor insisted that Toyota should build only electric vehicles ("Sato must get Toyota on track with EVs," autonews.com, March 5).
In this perfect world, every new-car buyer has an extra $10,000 to $20,000 or more to buy an EV; has an easily available charger at all times; has time to spend a few hours charging while taking long trips; and never has an extended power outage, even during national emergencies such as hurricanes, floods, forest fires, etc. There must also be abundant lithium and other metals available and locally sourced for batteries, and automakers must be willing to make nothing but EVs, even though most report that their EVs are being sold at a loss.
In my more realistic world, I am happy that Toyota built my Prius, which I have been driving since 2014. I can drive anywhere at any time using only half of the gasoline that I would have used if driving a nonhybrid. For those who have the benefits listed above, an EV presents a wonderful way to drive without producing pollutants, leaving that part of the equation to the generators of the electricity.
For my world, I am thankful that Toyota is taking a pragmatic view of the needs of all people and seeking a variety of solutions instead of depending on EVs to be the one and only solution to this massive problem.
RON LIEBERSON, Scottsdale, Ariz. The writer is a retired mechanical engineer.
