NPR: Electric cars have a road trip problem, even for the secretary of energy

[OKIsItJustMe]

Electric cars have a road trip problem, even for the secretary of energy

September 10, 2023 6:00 AM ET

When Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm set out on a four-day electric-vehicle road trip this summer, she knew charging might be a challenge. But she probably didn't expect anyone to call the cops.

…

But between stops, Granholm's entourage at times had to grapple with the limitations of the present. Like when her caravan of EVs — including a luxury Cadillac Lyriq, a hefty Ford F-150 and an affordable Bolt electric utility vehicle — was planning to fast-charge in Grovetown, a suburb of Augusta, Georgia.

Her advance team realized there weren't going to be enough plugs to go around. One of the station's four chargers was broken, and others were occupied. So an Energy Department staffer tried parking a nonelectric vehicle by one of those working chargers to reserve a spot for the approaching secretary of energy.

…

In fact, a family that was boxed out — on a sweltering day, with a baby in the vehicle — was so upset they decided to get the authorities involved: They called the police.

…

[tirebiter]

1. That's why they build hybrids. Always use the right tool for the job.- Mr Natural

[brush]

2. The road trip was a good way for the Secretary to show the pressing need...

for the build-out of the EV charging network for the entire country. Her advance team should've done a better job of mapping out charging stops or he entourage.

It's a bad look for the boxed out EV family to have to call the cops.

[Think. Again.]

3. It would have been good if...

...whoever in the Dept. of Energy organized this trip, had made sure that there would be adequate media coverage of it.

I'm not seeing any stories on this anywhere except NPR.

Was NPR the only media invited?

[MichMan]

4. Media coverage of Sec. Granholm's staff blocking that charger so no one else could use it ?

That would have been bad.

Do you think if a lot more people had seen the trip in the media they would be more or less inclined to buy an EV?

[Think. Again.]

5. Yeah....

...blocking the charger was a crappy move.

Since the trip was organized to promote EV use, I'm assuming that having more media around to cover the promotion of EV use would have promoted EV use more.

[MichMan]

8. "having more media around to cover the promotion of EV use would have promoted EV use more."

Even if it showed the inadequacies of the charging network ? That is likely the biggest source of hesitation among potential EV buyers. Widespread media coverage would have only reinforced their reluctance

[Think. Again.]

10. Oh, do we need more charging stations?....

....Yes!

So let's get busy-busy-busy building more charging stations!

Even better, let's build them with their own dedicated non-CO2 energy sources so people can calm down about the electricity coming from the grid or whatever it is they're whining about today!

[Caribbeans]

11. Indeed!

[Think. Again.]

12. Love it!

[Random Boomer]

6. Using EV to duplicate ICE convenience is just business-as-usual on the road to hell

We need to change the way we live, which includes traveling less overall, in order to scale down resource and energy consumption. We need to pour money into mass transit, not the luxury of personal vehicle transportation to be used at our every whim.

Convenience is a luxury that we don't even recognize any more, but it's killing the planet. Instead of focusing on how to maintain our current standard of living without oil/gas, we need to downsize our expectations.

Only... that won't happen. Because people don't like giving up creature comforts. So yeah, we're still driving straight into a brick wall, just with an EV instead of an ICE car.

[OKIsItJustMe]

7. I tell people:

1. EV’s are not good for the environment, they are only less bad.
2. An ICE, sitting in a garage, produces fewer carbon emissions than an EV which is driven.

[MichMan]

9. People are never going to give up personal transportation unless it becomes prohibitively expensive

Any politician even suggesting such will face the biggest loss in history.

I live in a rural area

When should I expect to see a mass transit stop within walking distance of my home?

[OKIsItJustMe]

13. You know, it's funny

I was raised in a little hamlet, that grew up around a “water stop” for the railroad, prior to the Civil War. For years, people would catch “mass transit” (i.e. the train) into and out of the local city. When I was a teenager, I would catch “The Greyhound” “into town” and back out in the evening.

I know of numerous little villages and hamlets that came into being in exactly the same way. — The trains and buses no longer stop there though… Funny that…

[Random Boomer]

15. Well, that's exactly my point

Climate change mitigation is not going to happen precisely because people will resist it. I don't expect much of politicians when it comes to mitigating climate change because people would revolt, either at the ballot box or with weapons. What few efforts are being put forth by Biden and anyone else... it's simply not enough, but I don't have any illusions that anyone else could do more. Our system simply won't allow it.

I also live in a rural area. I'm not willing to starve to death to avoid using either EVs or ICE, given that I'm too old to walk to the nearest store and I don't own a horse. It doesn't matter how much I care, how aware I am of the damage I'm doing when I drive a car (again, either EV or ICE), when push comes to shove, I am not willing to die for future generations. Multiply me by a few billion other people locked into industrial infrastructures, and you get a sense of the scale of the issue.

EVs will not save us. At this point, I doubt anything will.

[Random Boomer]

16. Really? You can't understand why everyone isn't buying EVs?

When I can buy a used EV for $5,000 cash from the guy down the street, and when the garage at the local commerce corner can fix it up whenever it breaks down, THEN I'll consider getting an EV.

EVs are damn expensive, far more expensive than the bottom rungs of the U.S. economic ladder can afford.

If I had no choice whatsoever, I could afford an EV, although it would put a substantial ding in my retirement funds. Short of being forced, however, it's simply not cost-effective for me, given how little I drive, to buy a new (or even slightly used) vehicle of any kind. I have my fingers crossed that my 2012 Subaru will last the remainder of my life, or at least the remainder of my driving history.

As for my neighbors, most of them can barely make their monthly rent. So they won't be driving EVs until the govenment hands them out for free.