TO THE EDITOR:
Regarding "GM turns the tables with proposal for EV mandate," Oct. 29: In the 1960s, General Motors saw the need to improve fuel efficiency and decided it would need front-wheel drive to comply with those efficiency needs and provide customers a vehicle that met their overall needs.
GM did not ask the government to require or codify a move to fwd technology. GM created customer confidence in, and general acceptance of, fwd by introducing it in the Oldsmobile and Cadillac lines. GM was ready when the government implemented corporate average fuel economy regulations.
Today, there apparently is no major auto producer that has enough confidence in battery-powered vehicles to try that. GM has the Bolt, but sales, even with government subsidies, are far from showing general acceptance. The Chevy Bolt and Spark EV, Nissan Leaf, Ford Focus Electric, Fiat 500e, Smart electric and Mercedes B250e, et al. have not sold enough in eight years to suggest their customers have accepted battery-powered vehicles.
Perhaps it is time to drop the government subsidies and let the industry sell the vehicles it is proposing to its customers.
Since 2000, federal, state and local governments have spent billions of dollars for subsidies to producers of the vehicles, batteries, charging facilities, etc. and to the buyers of these alternatively powered vehicles. To date, it appears there is still little interest by consumers. My guess is that the most successful incentive was permission to use the high-occupancy vehicle lanes with only the driver in the vehicle.
RON KYLE, Akron, Ohio, The writer, who is retired, worked for a major U.S. automaker in the 1960s.