Reblogged:This Beats Range Anxiety?

[Gus Van Horn blog]

My neighbor across the street owns two Teslas, but ahead of a recent hurricane, I saw him piling his family into a much more practical internal combustion vehicle ahead of evacuating.

Having evacuated from a major city in the past myself, I know that even refueling a conventional vehicle can be a dicey proposition, and that was part of why I chose to stay put for that one.

But refueling is just one part of the problem the phrase range anxiety fails to capture, as evocative as it is. The ridiculous amount of time it takes to recharge is apparently significant enough that some see -- or claim to see, perhaps thanks to ESG "investing" -- a chance to make money:

This taking too long defeats part of the whole purpose of having a car. (Image by Precious Madubuike, via Unsplash, license.)

Tony Quiroga, editor-in-chief of Car and Driver, has been forced to wander the aisles of a Walmart in Burbank, California, while the EV he's testing that day sits and charges. He's become a familiar face at a Mexican restaurant in Mohave, California, where a Tesla charger is located. A coffee shop recently opened nearby that caters specifically to EV drivers.

"I imagine an ecosystem will be built around charging stations eventually," he told ABC News. "Longer trips bring up flaws with EVs. People are leery of taking them on long trips -- that's why older EVs don't have 40,000 miles on them."

Sandwich chain Subway announced Wednesday it was partnering with GenZ EV Solutions to build "Oasis Parks" at select dining locations. EV customers can expect charging canopies with multiple ports, picnic tables, Wi-Fi, restrooms, green space and playgrounds to make the charging experience more "seamless," Subway said. [bold added]

The dude across the street has a charger in his garage and -- based on his behavior -- uses his cars for short, local trips. For his use case, an electric car could be a practical method of transport most of the time because he has (I would imagine) made charging part of his routine so that range is not a normal concern for him.

But I fail to see how these "oases" really help anything. If you're local and can plan your way out of a paper bag, you'll be like my neighbor and keep your car charged. And if you're -- what? taking a cross-country trip?! -- get ready to add significant time not getting to your destination to the trip.

At least on these stops, even children will know not to ask Are we there yet? on long-distance trips, so I suppose the suckers who try this will have that.

What has me scratching my head is that if the champions of electric vehicles are having to discover the hard way just the first-order problems shifting from gasoline can cause, it boggles the mind to consider knock-on effects. I can see people traveling much less by car after having to add a day or two -- just to refuel! -- with impatient children to already-long trips.

Have the bigwigs at Subway and the like thought about any of this? Are they being bribed with government money? Have their boards been populated by pod-people at the behest of ESG investors? With today's anti-capitalist sentiment and the perverse incentives of the all-pervading welfare state, seeing a gold rush like this inspires more suspicion than confidence on my part.

-- CAV

Link to Original

[tadmjones]

Gus! You're better than that , you don't refuel an EV, don't sacrifice the  language.

[Doug Morris]

6 hours ago, Gus Van Horn blog said:

I can see people traveling much less by car

Might this be the objective of some of the people pushing EV's?