At ease with EVs

Thinking of switching to an EV (electric vehicle)? Oak Park makes it easy. Many would-be EV owners are daunted by the question of where to charge, but our community boasts a growing number of chargers in public parking facilities. With always-free charging and free parking all day Sundays, fueling your drive could cost you $0 — and cost the planet nothing in climate-harming emissions if you use the solar-powered charging stations at The Avenue Garage, where the number of stations has grown from four to eight, and at North Boulevard.

Currently, Oak Park’s public EV chargers are clustered near downtown, but federal and state funds will soon bring more around our community as well as across the country. Let the village know where you think charging stations should be sited locally.

With more models coming out all the time, EVs are increasingly affordable, especially with new government incentives. Plus there’s also a growing pool of used EVs to choose from. (Will a conventional car purchased new today have much resale value in a decade?) Buyers must consider the typically much lower maintenance costs of EVs: They have relatively few moving parts to wear out, and they don’t need oil changes, transmission rebuilds, belt and muffler replacements, or state-mandated emissions tests. Meanwhile, they are undeniably fun to drive — quiet and vibration-free, with effortlessly zippy acceleration.

Environmentally, EVs are not entirely “free” to manufacture or drive. But in a nation with no plans to abandon the private automobile, they offer a huge environmental benefit over conventional fossil-fuel-powered cars. In the face of climate disruption, we can’t afford to let the perfect be the enemy of the good. We need an all-hands-on-deck approach to combatting climate change by electrifying everything and switching as fast as we can to sustainably sourced energy. EVs are unquestionably part of the solution. We need to start driving the cars of the future. They’re already here.

Mike Trenary
Oak Park

This was originally posted on the Wednesday Journal on 4/11/2023