Posted on 11/27/2023 9:31:07 AM PST by Red Badger
This story originally was published by Real Clear Wire
U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm gave Americans an unintended glimpse of the future during her road trip this summer touting the wonders of electric vehicles. Her public relations misadventure in Georgia involved one of her staff in a gasoline-powered vehicle blocking off a coveted charger in advance of her arrival, leading to frayed tempers and a local EV owner calling the cops. It was an illustration of the challenges drivers could face as governments push the public to embrace plug-in vehicles.
Hyped as technological marvels, EVs are boobytrapped with a host of inconveniences and tradeoffs. By now many people have heard about range anxiety, exploding lithium-ion batteries, and the environmental destruction caused by global mining for battery minerals.
But more challenges are in the offing as the federal government and the states pump in billions of dollars to build a massive national infrastructure of charging stations to power the EVs.
EV sales are creeping up, but nowhere near the ambitious targets set by the policy experts, accounting for under 8% of new car sales in the third quarter, and rising to nearly 10% in September. California stands at the vanguard of the nation’s EV transition, with more than 1 million electric vehicles among the state’s 31-million-plus registered vehicles, and EVs accounting for about 25% of new car sales in the second quarter.
At some point, EV experts promise, the kinks will get worked out, and EVs will become as convenient as smartphones. But at present, the EV industry has a classic chicken-and-egg problem on its hands. The current demand for EV charging does not economically justify rapidly expanding the nation’s charging infrastructure, but without an expanded charging infrastructure in place, most people won’t buy EVs for fear of being stranded.
Despite California’s massive infrastructure investment, now totaling nearly 94,000 public chargers, the state has fallen behind its goal of 250,000 public chargers by 2025 – and potentially 10 times that number by 2035, when the ban on new gasoline-powered cars takes effect.
There’s no consensus on the amount of public chargers that will be needed. According to a California Energy Commission assessment, California will need more than 2.4 million public chargers to accommodate about 15.5 million electric cars, trucks, and buses by 2035. That breaks down to 2.11 million chargers (including 83,000 fast chargers) to support 15.2 million electric cars, as well as 256,000 depot chargers and 8,500 public chargers for 377,000 trucks and buses.
The 2.4 million chargers would serve only half the registered vehicles in the state. Many more will be necessary to complete the second half of the transition, from 15.5 million EVs to more than 31 million EVs by mid-century. Those chargers will have to be installed at curbsides, parking lots, parking decks, grocery stores, restaurants, convenience stores, big box stores, office buildings, strip malls, shopping centers, movie theaters, and other locations so that drivers always have ready access to plug-in.
By comparison, California now has about 11,000 gas stations, convenience stores, and other businesses that sell gasoline, which translates to about 110,000 individual gas nozzles, according to an estimate by Jeff Lenard, vice president of Strategic Industry Initiatives at the National Association of Convenience Stores. That means the transition from fossil fuels to electrons will require California to install at least 20 EV charging ports for every gas nozzle by 2035.
Not all chargers are equal, so the new EV infrastructure will require significant changes in driving habits. While so-called fast chargers can bring a battery to 80% of capacity in under an hour, most of the new public chargers will be cheaper, Level 2 technology, which provides between 5 miles and 60 miles of range for each hour of charging and isn’t practical for charging up quickly on a road trip.
Chargers are expected to lose money until there are enough EVs on the road to justify the investment. The cost of building a fast-charging station with four or more charging ports can range from several hundred thousand dollars to more than $1 million. Reliability remains a persistent problem, one that will shadow the industry as chargers are built out in remote areas, low-income areas, and other out-of-the-way places.
In the meantime, Analytics firm J.D. Power says that 20% of all EV drivers reported visiting a charger that did not or could not charge because it wasn’t working or there were long lines. The dissatisfaction rates ranged from 12% in the Cleveland-Akron-Canton area to 35% in South Florida. The firm said the trend is moving in the wrong direction: as more people buy EVs, “overall satisfaction continues to decline.”
This year, a Los Angeles Times columnist declared she’s ready to trade in her EV because charging is such a hassle. She wrote that chargers are sometimes blocked by cars that aren’t charging, exposed to blistering sunlight, charging at lower levels than advertised, or “it may shut off mid-charge with no warning or reason.”
The frustration seems to have no expiration date. And it includes a problem not caused to technology or economics but by human nature: vandalism. As Jonathan Levy, EVgo chief commercial officer, told the New York Times last year: “Where there’s a screen, there’s a baseball bat.”
This article was adapted from a RealClearInvestigations article published October 24.
This article was originally published by RealClearPolicy and made available via RealClearWire.
If you’re virtue signaling to the other ignorant leftists and only need a grocery getter, its a fine idea....
I see all the fags are driving around in EVs. I mean, it’s their right. Free country. Whatever. I just wish they wouldn’t do it in public. So disgusting!
These EVs are nothing but a real pita as far as I can tell.
I should run my Cummins on used fryer grease thats as green as it gets.....but I dont need anymore “hobbies”...
On a related note
Have an opportunity to buy a good used Honda..Wifey says I should buy it because it would save me on gas as opposed to driving my other pickup to work. I told her...the math doesnt save me money. Better to just spend more on gasoline that manage three vehicles—doestn get it........logic isn’t the typical womans strength.
Gives the local ferals plenty of time to plot mischief against the immobilized EV driver...
You think copper theft is bad now? Just wait.
It’s a great thing that Kemp took it upon himself to give away billions to EV companies.
Never asked the voters what they wanted. And fought them tooth and nail when they pushed back.
It has been shown that charging an EV is equivalent to a gas price of $17/gal.
A couple of years ago we had a gang going round stealing outdoor AC units from churches for the copper................
Do not put ‘biodiesel’ in any modern diesel engine that has piezo-electric injectors.....................
People don't understand - "the market" will not make this decision, nor will you have any choice "not to buy an EV."
Fed.gov will simply mandate the car-making oligarchy to eliminate ICE vehicles. Toyota just announced, due to DOT fleet-mileage mandates, they were forced to switch all Camry's (their most popular sedan) to hybrid next year.
Mandating EVs are such a bad idea. So typical of the Communist ruling class peddling these insanely bad mandates. This is going to cause epic chaos in the future.
Rigged "elections" means never having to say you're sorry to your "voters".
“ Fed.gov will simply mandate the car-making oligarchy to eliminate ICE vehicles.”
Isn’t fascist America wonderful?
My leftist brother-in-law and his commie wife have an electric Volvo purchased with a $7,500 gift from you, thank you very much. They live in an upscale gated community and pretty much everything they want to do is within 10 or 15 miles so they think it’s great. And she says she can’t understand why everyone doesn’t buy an electric car. My wife explained it to her in great detail and it sailed right over her head.
No, school teachers are not the best and the brightest. Some more but the majority are not.
I still don’t quite see how the infrastructure for UNIVERSAL EV by 2030 (or whenever) is even possible, never mind getting it rolled out.
no worries
battery cars will not replace gas cars
the purpose of the battery cars is get rid of gas cars and therefore destroy private transportation
most will be on the bus or forced economically into 15 minute cities
I find it difficult to lay my finger upon that part of the Constitution that allows the Federal Government to do this.............
Even if there were charging stations every mile that mirrors the number of gasoline pumps, there isn’t enough generating power to run those stations.................
Is that a more modern type of innjector? Yes I heard older diesels are much more tolerant of veggie/oil and biodiesel in general.
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