Posted on 02/15/2020 4:47:43 AM PST by Kaslin
The New York Times pointed out that there were as many commercials for electric vehicles during Super Bowl LIV as there had been between 2011 and 2019 combined. GM teased the upcoming GMC Hummer EV, Audi promoted its e-Tron Sportback, and Porsche showed off its new Taycan.
While these commercials highlighted the new vehicles getting ready to hit the road, they did not acknowledge a much less flashy but still critically important issue: transitioning to this greener future will require charging infrastructure that can fuel the nation as effectively as gas stations currently do. And as a nation we are nowhere close to being prepared to meet that need.
While there are many ways to meet the needs for the future of electric vehicle (EV) usage, we are seeing large utility companies propose raising rates on all their electric customers - regardless of whether they own an EV - to pay for building charging stations.
Using their considerable political power, utilities are acting quickly to corner the EV charging market by asking state and local utility commissions for permission to raise rates. And in states like California, utilities have been approved to raise their rates by millions of dollars.
While elected officials who support utility companies in this effort have the goal of increasing accessibility to charging stations, they are actually stifling competition and the end result will be fewer total charging stations.
Who would compete in a market with private funds if other companies can fund their projects on the backs of people forced to use their products? Without private investment, progress towards EV adoption will be hampered.
Allowing utility companies to raise rates on all electric customers to build charging stations is also morally troubling.
If you don’t own an EV, you’ll pay more for your electricity so someone else can charge their car. In essence, it is requiring poor families, for whom owning an electric car is perhaps an unattainable dream, to pay more so that middle- and high-income families can have access to charging infrastructure.
In Virginia, Dominion Energy recently announced its goal of achieving “net zero emissions” by 2050, and its plan to achieve this goal includes “investing in electric-vehicle charging infrastructure.” But what Dominion hasn’t highlighted is that to achieve this 2050 goal, it would have to raise electric bills by 20%.
This is even more indefensible when there are alternatives that provide a much more effective pathway towards developing EV charging infrastructure. And you don’t have to look far for better solutions.
Leading Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, including Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Environment and Climate Change Subcommittee Chairman Paul Tonko (D-NY) and Energy Subcommittee Chairman Bobby L. Rush (D-IL), recently introduced The CLEAN Future Act. While this bill is an early draft, it already includes some positive progress that will promote competition in the charging station market, without passing these costs on to unsuspecting utility customers who don’t even own EVs.
The CLEAN Future Act accomplishes this progress by supporting private sector planning and investment in charging networks and encouraging states to not classify private companies that simply provide charging stations as utilities.
In addition, last year, Senator Tom Carper (D-DE) successfully pushed to include $30 billion in grant funding in the bipartisan America's Transportation Infrastructure Act of 2019 to support the creation of charging stations and required that the grant money be used on contracting with private companies for the deployment of publicly accessible EV charging stations. This is because Senator Carper recognized that utilities undercutting private investment would be detrimental to meeting EV infrastructure goals.
And the private sector is moving quickly to fill this obvious need. ChargePoint announced that they are partnering with the National Association of Truck Stop Operators “to build high-speed charging stations at over 4,000 truck stops and travel plazas across the country by 2030.”
Developing infrastructure is critical to the future of EV usage, but we shouldn’t hurt low-income communities in the process. By promoting private sector investment through legislative measures, we can find an answer that best meets this need without undue harm.
Still a waste of time and money. I couldn’t go to.Jsspee, without adding an extra eight hours to my trip.
Depends on what type of charging station you would use.
The ones that are “fast charger” stations have been 100kW for a few years. The problem up until now is that most EV’s could only absorb (or suck in) about 50-80kW.
New stations being built now by Volta and Electrify America are much more powerful and the cars are following suit.
I’d say in about 3 years you could make a 350 mile drive and stop only once for 20-30 minutes (lunch?).
I’m excited about what Buc’ees is proposing to do in the SE. Those will be game-changers for interstate travel and the EV.
Sure, and where possible, the charging stations will charge your credit card, as well as your car.
A thought about electric cars. If your battery runs down, and you call AAA, will they stay around to fully charge your battery? At least a half hour?
Some smart person is going to figure out how to run his home by charging for free at the Interstate Rest Stop. You’d be kind of a fool not to.
When you can charge your car in the same amount of time it would take to fill your tank and drive four hundred miles with aircon in the summer and running the heater in winter I might, maybe, consider.
They haven’t solved the cold problem.
There are folks out there trying that.
Wouldn’t surprise me. Battery back-up tech has really made some strides recently.
True, but it’s getting better.
I don’t think Lithium Ions are the best for extreme cold temps. My EV loses about 15% battery life in temps below 40 degrees still. It was a lot worse 4 years ago.
Depends on your batter capacity.
If it’s only 10% charged it could take 30-40 minutes plus now.
If I pull into a super-charger station at 50% charge, I can sit there for about 15 minutes or so. Not bad, but I don’t drive a Tesla either.
Lines are nil for the most part. In about 3 years they’ll have an EV out with the range you mentioned and better tolerances for cold weather.
It is all about removing the ability to move freely. There isn’t enough copper in the world to electrify America, much less the world.
Hydrocarbons remain the best option because it meets all the practical demands we need to fuel our cats.
how exactly does a charging station work?
Do you plug in 120 volts, 240 volts, 480 volts? Single phase? three phase?
Can you have one in your driveway?
Are electric vehicles compatible to all charge stations? is there standardization?
I learned LONG ago that ‘specifications’ are true.
I was designing a chip into a circuit; using the published specs about it.
It turned out that while each data point was 100% accurate; they were NOT accurate all at the same time!
You want range in your car? you got it (as long as you power down every thing else.)
You want cool air in the summer? You got it! (Just don’t think you’ll drive as far.)
You want a car that doesn’t burst into flames? Well; it ain’t a PINTO; is it?
This is being driven by the big tech companies and most auto manufacturers are converting their old combustion plants to EV assembly plants (Ford/Chevy/etc.)
LG just landed a huge battery plant in Ohio, SK Battery in GA. This is the future, like it or not.
Next year BMW and Mercedes will have EV options for every car model they make. VW is following suit.
It’s going to take time, but carbons are going away. Even Industrial plants are replacing their fleets with electric jockey trucks, forklifts, and refrigeration.
Just like your Iphone.
You can get a cheap level 2 charger installed in your garage for less than $300 and it’ll charge your 190 mile range car that has 50% battery charge in about 3-4 hours (just plug it over night).
Most EV’s come with a 120V plug that looks like your clothes dryer connector and an adapter that can plug into your normal outlet.
EV’s have standardized outlets (Tesla’s don’t but they offer adapters). It’s very convenient.
Test drive one!
thanks
Let me know when they can recharge an SUV in 5 minutes. Until then, no thank you.
Just wait until they make ambulances EVs.then things will get expensive.
Are there tiny nuclear reactors in the charging stations?
I prophesy a copper theft crisis.
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