Letters: Are batteries more harmful than petrol powered cars

Reports presented to the council should be questioned says a reader. Photo/File

While waiting in the truck lanes at VTNZ most of the drivers get out and chew the fat, along with moaning about how long they've been waiting, for something to do.

Anyhow, there was a young chap there who seemed to be concerned about all these electric cars that are being sold as the greatest thing since sliced bread. He told me that the process of making the batteries for these said electric cars is more harmful to our eco-system than they are willing to admit.

He also said that if they stopped making battery and petrol-powered cars and only made diesel engine vehicles the world would be a better place to live in.

I don't know enough about emissions to compare petrol v diesel engines to. Perhaps someone with the right credentials could come forward with supported data to either confirm or deny that this young fellow was right.

Where do all the dead batteries go? Or do they just bury them with the car when its use by date has arrived.

I don't live in a greenhouse and am old enough not to worry about which way the world is going, but my grandsons sure will need to take a long hard look at what's in their future.

ROD PETTERSON
Rotorua

Right to question
I have been following the outsourcing desire of Rotorua Lakes Council for some time and hear the message from senior management and some councillors that questioning writers/presenters of reports, is, to paraphrase, a bad thing.

If councillors can't question the writers of reports we might as well get rid of elected members and have it run as a business.

But that is not democracy and such a thought should send fear into everyone. So let's stop being defensive, and stop being offended by questions. To just agree because they are the experts, or employees, is in my opinion very dangerous.

Officials do not represent the community's wishes, but rather the chief executive's direction.

To suggest the community is not equal to the paid managers in terms of expertise and knowledge of their community is insulting. We live and breathe our community, it is not a paid job within the constraints of a hierarchical system.

The only way we can guarantee the community gets value for money is by critiquing the recommendations each and every time.

Value for money is not just the bottom line, progressive councils everywhere see the workers and the dollars being reinvested in their communities as equally important to the sustainability and vibrancy of the community.

The community gets it right so many times with events which the council support. The councillors who support the need to question what is put in front of them are the community's heroes.

SAMANTHA WHITE
Rotorua