Volt's safe | The Salt Lake Tribune

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Cheryl Cope's "Paying electric bill" (Forum, April 23) included a highly misguided quip about electric cars using dangerous and flammable lithium-ion batteries. Regardless of Boeing's trouble with its 787 battery systems, it is unfair to relate those problems with electric vehicles.

If Cope had done a little research, she would have discovered that drivers of Chevrolet Volts alone have logged more than 150 million electric miles with no "real-world crashes that have resulted in a battery-related fire involving the Chevy Volt or any other electric vehicle," as a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study concluded.

Meanwhile, in 2011, the National Fire Protection Association reported there were 187,500 highway vehicle fires leading to 270 deaths.

I don't expect Cope to pay to charge my car, but please, do your research before making such inaccurate remarks.

Roger Edwards

West Jordan