Coal at is least better than oil

In the May 8 Acorn cartoon, D. Austin writes "What's wrong with the electric car?" and then depicts coal being pumped into an electric car. This is a tired notion that coal is the sole source of electricity and therefore we are merely trading oil for coal in our urgent need to get off our foreign addiction to oil.

If it were a one-to-one swap of oil for coal (which it's not) then I still would opt for the domestic coal over the grave problems we have with our dependence on OPEC and the soaring ability of those nations to export two products, oil and terror. Their ability to do No. 2 is directly proportional to how much money they make from No. 1. It not only affects our foreign policy, but much of our domestic economy woes can be tied to sky rocketing gas prices.

But only 20 percent of California's electricity comes from coal (2005 Energy Commission Publication), 38 percent natural gas, 19 percent hydro, 15 percent nuclear and the rest is other, including only 0.2 percent for solar. C'mon guys, less than 1 percent solar? We can do better.

If you really want zero emissions (electric car gets the white carpool lane sticker which did not run out like the yellow one for hybrids), electric vehicles can be powered from 100 percent renewable energy by installing solar panels that last for decades. Good luck trying to drill an oil well in your back yard.

Let me save you another cartoon depicting the electric car racing a golf cart. The Tesla Roadster ("normal" sports car) can do zero to 60 in 3.9 seconds. See you later, Ferrari and Porsche. Ian H. Taras Agoura Hills