With the Biden administration hoping to transition the United States toward all-electric vehicles, it has set a goal of commissioning the construction of a nationwide network of 500,000 EV charging stations by 2030. But saying you’re going to do something as part of a $1-trillion infrastructure plan is a lot easier than actually doing it because there are a lot of steps that have to be taken before a plan can effectively be put into action. This is called planning and it’s something the government occasionally engages in to ensure a program is successful. As such, the Biden administration is issuing a series of standards and requirements for federally funded electric vehicle charging stations.
“To support the transition to electric vehicles, we must build a national charging network that makes finding a charge as easy as filling up at a gas station,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “These new ground rules will help create a network of EV chargers across the country that are convenient, affordable, reliable and accessible for all Americans.”
The Department of Transportation, in partnership with the Department of Energy, is proposing new standards that the White House claimed would “make charging electric vehicles (EVs) a convenient, reliable, and affordable for all Americans,” including those wanting to take their battery-powered automobile on longer trips. But it added that chargers would be less reliable, fail to work for all vehicles, and lack common payment methods if “strong standards” were not imposed.
The White House also claimed that the broader initiative would create loads of good-paying jobs for steelworkers, electricians, and laborers that would need to construct and maintain the vast network. Though the press release immediately refocused on tackling the climate crisis, stating that EV adoption meant lessened emissions, cleaner air, and advancing the President’s Justice40 Initiative – which seeks to give federal agencies more direct oversight of state-level decisions so that the government can “advance environmental justice and spur economic opportunity for disadvantaged communities.”
The U.S. Transportation Department’s Federal Highway Administration said the proposed rule is expected to be published in the Federal Register next week. Any final rules are likely to be published after public comments are reviewed. However, we can already get a sense of what might be coming based on the surrounding rhetoric coming out of the White House.
Most of the text used in the press release was spent praising the spending bill that got us here (specifically the $7.5 billion carved out for the charging network), subsequent investments from private companies, new policies designed to make the federal fleet all-electric by 2027, and promises that the construction of the stations would be conducted in a manner that would impact both urban and rural communities. But the White House also praised like-minded businesses and unions that have similarly committed themselves to an all-electric future by 2030.
After that, we start getting into the meatier bits:
The $7.5 billion for EV charging infrastructure in President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will build a convenient and equitable charging network through two programs. The National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program will provide $5 billion in formula funding to States to build out charging infrastructure along highway corridors – filling gaps in rural, disadvantaged, and hard-to-reach locations while instilling public confidence in charging. Today’s minimum standards and requirements will guide States on how to spend federal funds in a way that makes chargers function the same from state-to-state, easy to find, use, and pay for, no matter who operates chargers. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law also provides $2.5 billion in competitive grants to support community and corridor charging, improve local air quality, and increase EV charging access in underserved and overburdened communities. DOT will open applications for this program later this year.
These federal charging programs were designed to catalyze additional private sector investments that complement the build-out of a user-friendly, cost-saving, and financially sustainable national EV charging network. Together, President Biden’s leadership is mobilizing public and private charging investment to accelerate the adoption of EVs and create good-paying jobs across manufacturing, installation, and operation. These chargers will also make sure the new renewable electricity sources like solar and wind can power the cars we drive and reduce energy costs for families.
The above treads a lot of familiar ground. In fact, almost every paragraph in the White House release makes some mention of circumventing high energy costs and ensuring good-paying jobs. But the big takeaway is that the government is counting on the private sector to swoop in and actually make this happen. It’s something that seems plausible, considering how much the automotive sector and energy concerns talk about this kind of stuff. Though the federal government still wants to be heavily involved in the process and effectively direct how things are managed while subsidizing aspects of the program.
An additional $65 billion has been set aside to upgrade the national grid. That’s probably not a bad idea even if the U.S. government wasn’t interested in pushing EVs. But it’s likely mandatory if there’s any chance of avoiding routine brownouts when millions of vehicles charge after work during peak load. Elon Musk previously speculated that the energy consumption of EVs would effectively require every nation to bolster its grid if they were to become mainstream products. Though engineers have long been warning that the proliferation of all-electric vehicles would require increased energy production.
Of the $7.5 billion earmarked for the chargers, the law has $5 billion slated for states to build their own charging networks and $2.5 billion for local grants designed to support access to EV charging in “rural areas and disadvantaged communities.” States will have until the beginning of August to submit their EV infrastructure deployment plans to the joint office. From there, the office will have to decide which ones it likes and how to best distribute the funding.
The Biden administration also used Thursday to announce the formation of a new “EV Working Group.” While the details on the organization are rather vague (something that plagued the Disinformation Governance Board), the White House said it would exist as part of the newly formed Joint Office of Energy and Transportation and feature 25 hand-pick members that haven’t yet been selected. Its stated purpose was to serve as an advisory body to “make recommendations regarding the development, adoption, and integration of light-, medium-, and heavy-duty electric vehicles into the transportation and energy systems of the United States.” Something similar is being plotted to help the Parks Service transition to all-electric fleets.
Another subgroup is also being formed under the Department of Defense (beneath the Senior Pentagon Climate Working Group). While I haven’t the faintest clue why the organization is tied to the DOD, that group’s stated reason for being is to focus “solely on removing barriers to installing EV charging infrastructure that supports the Department’s zero-emission vehicle acquisition goals.”
Apparently, the Department of Defense is also all-in on electric vehicles.
As for the charging standards themselves, the government is looking to have rules that would establish EV stations every 50 miles and ideally within a mile or so of the interstate. The stations themselves would be required to have at least four 150-kilowatt DC fast charging points to avoid long wait times. Such hubs would also be required to utilize the same software between states and data submissions to create a database of public EV charging. The government has likewise said connectivity is a must so that remote monitoring and diagnostics can take place. The limits of this were not specified, though I would wager they probably won’t be. All the companies building these stations and cars want as much data as they can hoover up and the federal government will be no different. On the upside, perpetual monitoring of these systems could help with maintenance – something EV charging stations have had a serious problem with.
Stations would need to be standardized, with the Department of Transportation stating that it would be illegal to have charging limited to memberships. This presumably means Tesla would have to open its charging network to everybody (like it did in Europe) or face more opposition from the federal government. Ironically, a recent study actually suggested Tesla’s chargers are more reliable than their public counterparts for that very reason.
“It ensures the charging stations funded under these programs can serve a broad range of vehicles, including best-selling models from Ford, GM and more automakers,” stated Buttigieg. “And it sends a market signal toward a standard charging port for stations to accommodate the widest possible set of vehicles and accommodate the adapters for all vehicles.”
The amount of changes currently taking place within the federal government to help facilitate this is nothing short of staggering. Not only is the White House trying to standardize and fund the construction of half a million charging stations to spur electric vehicle adoption, but it’s also establishing pro-EV committees for practically every department in the country. But if you ask anyone involved, it’s all for the best and is sure to result in a utopian future for all by 2030.
“We’re tackling range anxiety and vehicle charging deserts by making sure that charging stations are easily and equally accessible, allowing every American can get coast to coast in an electric vehicle,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “The investments made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will not only build an interconnected national charging network, but also boost local economies and strengthen our independence from the volatilities of fossil fuels.”
[Images: U.S. Department of Transportation/DOT]
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.gov getting in the charging business, what could go wrong? this…..
“President’s Justice40 Initiative – which seeks to give federal agencies more direct oversight of state-level decisions so that the government can “advance environmental justice and spur economic opportunity for disadvantaged communities.”
That’s what immediately caught my eye as well. They really, really hate the foundational idea of Federalism.
“advance environmental justice and spur economic opportunity for disadvantaged communities.”
so I have to drive my EV into the hood to charge?
I guess I’ll learn to suck on some malt liquor while I wait.
Cmon’ man. Can’t you do better than this overtly racist comment?
Maybe he should write the so-called “president” for a better racist joke. Xiden has to know so many being as big a racist as he is.
If they actually establish uptime standards and then impose real financial consequences on operators who don’t meet them, and if they finally push the OEMs to standardize on CCS once and for all, this initiative could actually add some value. The large-scale goal of having an easy-to-use network with chargers everywhere is the right one, but if it’s going to be sustainable the chargers will need to be able to turn a profit, and just blindly saying “every 50 miles along every interstate” will not make that true in every case.
“If” (For those of you know some ancient history)
I believe they’re targeting an uptime of something like 97 percent for every station and monitoring this through the data sharing aspects of the plan.
Though that vastly exceeds what most public charging stations seem to be capable of today and I have my doubts that it’ll be anywhere near that.
Thanks. I’d be curious how that 97% target compares with gas pumps. Gas stations as a whole have uptime way higher than 97 percent, but it’s pretty normal to find a station where one or two of the pumps are down. If there are 4+ chargers in each location then it might be realistic to have near 100% uptime for charging locations.
“Gas stations as a whole have uptime way higher than 97 percent, but it’s pretty normal to find a station where one or two of the pumps are down.”
Don’t even begin to compare downed gas pumps with downed chargers.
It takes only a few minutes to fill up with gas and then leave. Don’t like the line that formed? Head right down the road, or usually across the street. Problem solved.
A down pump or two is not significant in the scheme of gasoline refueling.
Down chargers, though, have a significantly bigger impact in the scheme of things.
“It takes only a few minutes to fill up with gas and then leave. Don’t like the line that formed? Head right down the road, or usually across the street. Problem solved.”
Why wouldn’t this be true of chargers once a significant portion of the vehicle fleet is made up of EVs?
The function of real estate space and time spent is completely different between gas stations and electric charging stations.
You can get a lot more energy transferred per minute per square foot of real estate with gasoline than with electric.
Ponder all of that as you imagine an infrastructure aimed at “giving the people the same experience as gasoline cars”.
You’ll come back with “but I charge at home.” Great, you’re one of the privileged. The rest of the world–those who can’t do what you do–must do…what?
In the places where land ls expensive, there are ways around the issue. First, a bunch of people will be charging at home, even if not everyone is. Second, charging capability can overlap with retail parking in a way that is not practical for gas—I believe much local charging will happen while people are buying their groceries.
In the places where you really need more chargers to make long-distance travel feasible, land is cheap, and it will be fine for a charging station to take up a bit more space than a gas station does today.
“ Don’t even begin to compare downed gas pumps with downed chargers.”
That is an absolutely laughable comparison. But consider the source.
If being able to charge at home is only due to being “one of the privileged”, then get yourself some more privilige! Lay off of whatever is holding you back – gambling, smoking, lack of education, your relatives don’t want you to think you’re any better than they are, having been laid off from a dying industry, and so on. MOVE to a different part of the country where there is work that pays more than what you are making now. Make some sacrifices. If you accept a mediocre life, DON’T COMPLAIN about it. If you don’t like it, FIX IT. The Gubmint isn’t holding you back,* YOU ARE. If you want to improve your luck, WORK HARDER and WORK SMARTER.
*unless you owe child support to three different women, which is a hole you dug for yourself.
“*unless you owe child support to three different women, which is a hole you dug for yourself.”
You mean, ” a hole you filled yourself”
They are really not comparable until you can gas your car up at home like a EV/PHEV. Even street or garage parking have 120v wall outlets that will add 100 miles of range over night. Most vehicles today spend more time parked than driving so why wouldn’t they be plugged in?
“Most vehicles today spend more time parked than driving so why wouldn’t they be plugged in?”
Because, in Halfwitopia, the idiots dumb and nonthreatening enough to make up the connected hence favored classes; rely on the jackboots banning their more competent betters from building enough houses with lockable garages for that to ever be feasible.
“…data sharing aspects of the plan.”
Ah. So this will no doubt involve my VIN being shared and stored as part of the charging process, so that Uncle Sugar can track me everywhere I go.
Norm, the charge rate from a 120v outlet is around 3 miles per hour, so unless your nights are around 33 hours long, you’re not adding 100 miles of range overnight.
Easily the worst president the United States has ever had. Jimmy Carter thanks him.
Yep. That gets clearer by the day. I recently saw a clip of him on Kimmel and nobody could understand the Alzheimer’s drivel he was saying. Just random words with no point. Kimmel had to go to commercial so Jo Jo Rabbit could collect his thoughts and figure out how to use words. He’s a national embarrassment.
“Easily the worst president the United States has ever had.”
You don’t know much about history.
SCE – I have to agree. The current man hasn’t really done/been able to do all that much in comparison to those in the past who really made poor, poor decisions that negatively affect the country to this day.
“The current man hasn’t really done/been able to do all that much in comparison to those in the past who really made poor, poor decisions that negatively affect the country to this day.”
Of course. That’s a given.
President X being worse than President X-1; will anyways hold true, once undifferentiated, universal decay becomes severe enough. By now, the halfwits are down to stealing boats from Vodkadrunks from halfway around the world. Having already robbed their own countrymen into homelessness.
It is so reassuring that Lactating Pete Buttigieg is overseeing this initiative. I’ll sleep better at night knowing that someone so highly qualified to alter America’s entire transportation system has concluded his maternity leave and is now fully in charge.
You’d think the transportation secretary would be making comments on how he’s working to reduce the price of gas and diesel but no. Complete silence
Tell me what the transportation secretary can do to affect the price of gas. I’ll be waiting, but out of self-preservation I won’t be holding my breath.
If this administration is going to send out tweets and have the lying press secretary self congratulate themselves and crow about how Americans are saving $0.16 cents on their July 4th BBQ as irrefutable proof that their policies have put this country on a positive trajectory, then they clearly have the power to do something, anything.
How has drawing down the strategic oil reserves helped the price of fuel? Clearly THE ADMINISTRATION thinks it can influence the price of fuel.
Once again, the flow of anti-Democratic drivel on TTAC is coursing along like effluent on its way to the sewage treatment plant. Ho hum.
If there were an export tariff on refined gasoline of, say, a buck fifty a gallon, then maybe the oil companies would sell it to Americans instead of shipping it elsewhere. Take care of the home market first. Whether this would actually work or not is anyone’s guess, but to think that the President or the Secretary of Transportation controls the price at the pump is absolute rubbish.
Figures that you can’t tell the difference between the president and one of his cabinet members.
The president can certainly influence the price of gas through a variety of means, although he can’t control the Saudis. But the transportation secretary has much more limited power. About the only thing he’d have the power to do is reduce the demand for gas at the extreme margins by building chargers, or by spending his department’s small amount of discretionary funds on high-ridership urban public transit improvements rather than highways or lifeline rural public transit. Obviously that’s not going to have enough impact to notice.
“Figures that you can’t tell the difference between the president and one of his cabinet members.”
Figures you would make excuse upon excuse for the sub humans who took a year to destroy this country.
Sorry but when a tweet comes from the official white house account saying:
“Planning a cookout this year? Ketchup on the news. According to the Farm Bureau, the cost of a 4th of July BBQ is down from last year. It’s a fact you must-hear(d). Hot dog, the Biden economic plan is working. And that’s something we can all relish.”
Yes, that is as good enough for me that this administration is taking credit for it. But they went further and again took credit for it when the lying peanuts character Paski talked about it. And what was she? The lying piece of garbage SPOKESPERSON FOR THE ADMINISTRATION. So, again, if they have the ability to lower the cost of a BBQ, they they sure as h3ll can influence the price of gasoline and diesel fuel. But they CHOOSE not to.
It’s rather pathetic to see some blame an election win as the root cause of problems that are occurring planet wide.
We get it. Nobody in the administration can do anything about inflation, gas prices, a shameful end to the Afghan War, the border, crime and a bunch of other things people actually care about
But the last guy can send a couple of tweets and put the very existence of our republic in peril.
1) Biden was installed into office (not elected) – see, e.g., 2000 Mules; 2) Through Hunter he and his family is compromised by the CCP; 3) The Democrat Party is all-in on the “Green New Deal”; 4) The “Green New Deal” is just a domestic slogan for the World Economic Forum’s “Great Reset” (a/k/a “Build Back Better”); 5) This all is using the fabricated “crisis” of 6″climate change” as cover to dramatically lower standards of living in first and second world countries – e.g., “by 2030 you’ll own nothing” and be eating bugs instead of meat (if they consummate their vision); 6) Part of that vision is “nudging” people to live in small housing units in urban areas, owning no personal transportation; 7) For them, skyrocketing gas / diesel / food prices are a feature, for they all “nudge” people into lowered standards of living and “voluntarily” adopting their intended (neo-feudal existence).
That’s why on his first day Biden cancelled the Keystone XL pipeline, and since they’ve been hobbling domestic energy production. That is why Buttgig is silent, while Granholm is lauding higher prices as greasing the skids for the “transition” to a “sustainable” (neo-feudal) economy.
This post shows why a society that has a combination of the internet and an education system that has been banned in many places from teaching critical thinking skills is so dangerous.
“This post shows why a society that has a combination of the internet and an education system that has been banned in many places from teaching critical thinking skills is so dangerous.”
That can be attributed to all your posts though…not just the one above. But I am glad you are finally seeing the ridiculousness of what you say.
Also, learn the difference between “this” and “that”…
“Good ole dayz” What? You meant “Odd. Old. Dazed”.
Keep guzzling the Q-Anon Kool-Aid.
” “Good ole dayz” What? You meant “Odd. Old. Dazed”. ”
Odd, old, and dazed describes our sitting president.
@jalop1991 – describes the last one too.
Uh, no ? Fox and Q points here….we got a guy like this at town board meetings…..
What is the over/under for how long it takes for the chargers in these disadvantaged communities to have the copper stripped from them so someone can use it to buy some crack or heroin?
And barring that, what is the over/under for how long my car can sit at that charger before it ends up on blocks and missing it’s radio?
“And barring that, what is the over/under for how long my car can sit at that charger before it ends up on blocks and missing it’s radio?”
Look on the bright side–at least you won’t get your catalytic converter stolen.
“ Though the press release immediately refocused on tackling the climate crisis, stating that EV adoption meant lessened emissions, cleaner air,”
Which is unadulterated BS. EVs are horrendous for the planet. This lie that they are a better alternative is laughable.
“and advancing the President’s Justice40 Initiative – which seeks to give federal agencies more direct oversight of state-level decisions so that the government can “advance environmental justice and spur economic opportunity for disadvantaged communities.”
“You see your honor, I had to assault and rob that nice old lady because I am underserved and done have EV chargers in my neighborhood”
Here is it folks, the green push has nothing to do with the environment and is all about pushing social justice crap. How virtuous.
$1 trillion dollars. Or, you spend nothing, push for PHEVs and you accomplish 95% of your goal (oh helping the planet, not the social justice crap).
More proof EVs are nothing but a massive government boondoggle.
“Which is unadulterated BS. EVs are horrendous for the planet. This lie that they are a better alternative is laughable.”
Canada mines coal. They put it on an oil-burning ship and send it to China. China burns the coal to make solar panels. China puts the solar panels on an oil-burning ship back to Canada–
–where Canadians buy the solar panels and smugly declare themselves to be doing “good green” stuff for the planet.
“ where Canadians buy the solar panels and smugly declare themselves to be doing “good green” stuff for the planet.”
That kind of pretzel logic is a lot of work to make yourself feel good about doing the things you chastise others for.
Yup, solar panels are made out of burnt coal. Everybody knows that!
“Yup, solar panels are made out of burnt coal. Everybody knows that!”
That’s your entire response?
So you can’t refute what I said. Instead, you just try to twist it around into my saying something I never said in the first place.
@jalop1991 – It takes quite a bit of energy to make a solar panel of which coal tends to be the most common fuel source in manufacturing. You’ve framed it in a rather misleading way. It is the lesser of 2 evils. Even with coal factored into manufacturing, solar panel’s carbon footprint is roughly 20 times less than the carbon output of coal-powered electricity sources.
If one looks at EV’s, again it is a case of the lesser of 2 evils. EV manufacturing does have a greater carbon footprint than that of manufacturing a gasoline or diesel powered automobile. Once both vehicles enter service, the EV over time has a smaller carbon footprint than that of an ICE car even with manufacturing taken into account.
@jalop1991 – Your rant was about using coal to make solar panels. Now we’ve moved on to nuclear? Typical, shift the discussion when your comments prove to be wrong!
You just hate everything, don’t you?
Ah, it looks like I rubbed a raw spot with you, huh.
Facts hurt, don’t they, when you’ve built up your fantasy world around you and it comes crashing down.
I know big picture stuff is hard for you to grasp, but that doesn’t make it any less real.
Pointing out self defeating, poorly thought out public policy isn’t hate.
Why is criticism of incompetent decisions and decision makers hate?
No snark…. why do you think this?
Many people believe that if someone disagrees with them–shoot, if anyone dares not to embrace their position and further it–then that’s hatred.
It’s a sad way for those people to live.
EV charging standards – it’s about time, but really a decade late. The lack of public standards has resulted in charging chaos and has hurt EV adoption.
I’d prefer they decouple the spending from the standards development, however. Money will both enable and corrupt the process.
Meanwhile, Toyota and Hyundai are still waiting for the states to build them a hydrogen infrastructure.
Well at least you warring Americans, Dems versus Repubs, at least have one standard you agree on — driving on the right. And road signs pretty much the same everywhere. Surprised you aren’t squabbling about all that. Standards are no bad thing where it makes sense — are gas pump filling nozzles all different? America led the way in standardizing building codes and what have you well before anywhere else in the world back in the 1920s and 1930s, but now you fight about what should be obvious to any sane person just for the apparent sake of it.
You haven’t been driving around my city for the last couple of years, have you.
Civility and following the law and being predictable and polite in traffic–what you would call standards–all of that has gone completely out the window.
We have little fights on the regular. It’s what we do. You Europeans though…when you start a fight someone gets nuked and an entire ethnic group gets shoved into an oven.
It would be history, but you seem heII bent on repeating it.
Spare us the lectures and (and your Eurotrash music)
The problem with America is that the lowest one percentile thinks that they have all the answers, and won’t quit spouting their hatred and nonsense everywhere. They don’t understand common sense, and think that “freedom” means being free to spread viruses willy-nilly. Like pretty much the entire world, most Americans are good, decent, common-sense people. The string-pullers and Russian trolls know how to manipulate the gullible puppets, and we end up with TTAC turning into TBAP (The Bull*** About Politics).
“The problem with America is that the lowest one percentile thinks that they have all the answers, and won’t quit spouting their hatred and nonsense everywhere.”
It wouldn’t have been such a problem, if the rest hadn’t sat back and allowed that lowest one percentile to print themselves dollars to buy up both all productive resources, and all positions of power.
Dumb guys mindlessly spouting trivially obvious nonsense while falling down airplane steps, will likely always be around. But in a free country, those less so afflicted can simply route around and ignore the garbage. That no longer works, once the imbeciles have nuke buttons, nominal “ownership” of every nook and cranny of the country, and enough indoctrinated jackboots in thrall to not simply be laughed out of the room when they pompously insist their childish tantrums are some sort of “rule of law!!!!!”
Jennifer G. and Pete B. – 2 politicians who don’t scale at all. Both are in positions due to political favors instead of competence, but that’s how things normally go. Appoint inept politicians who helped (in this case) the ‘big guy’ and get a post they don’t understand and don’t want to work. Like X. Becerra, they don’t have any experience in managing an organization of the size they lead and have no expertise in the area with which they’re charged.
Uptime for the currently run private networks seems to bounce around the 70% range, meaning 30% of the time they’re broken. Not convenient when the next charging stating may be miles away. And hearing that the Government, who cannot seem to keep baby formula flowing or maintain some degree of integrity around our southern border, is going to get in the charging station business. I’d anticipate that uptime drops to about 50%, that charging stations will be closed on Holidays, they’ll be staffed by a lazy, surly and incompetent worker who cannot be fired from their 75k a year job monitoring extension cords and that the general high performance metrics and ability to lose immense sums of money annually as demonstrated by the US Postal Service. And since our Transportation Secretary has less transportation experience that a taxi dispatcher in a small town like… South Bend IN, well, what could possibly go wrong?
What an amazing post. Thank you
Although I think 50% may be optimistic. As you said they can’t maintain a secure border when one was handed to them. My guess is once a liberal government gets involved it will work 30% of the time and be broken 70%
Dementia Joe and the entire Democrat party are so despicable. They are intentionally sabotaging our energy independence which has forced gas prices to skyrocket causing financial hardship for Americans simply to push their insane economy destroying radical “green” agenda. The US has some of if not the largest oil fields right under our feet. But his guy and these America hating loons are keeping us from extracting it and transporting it. It’s sick. Biden voters were warned of this and yet they voted for this dementia riddled radical anyway. “I just don’t like all those mean tweets!”. Is this what you voted for?
“They are intentionally sabotaging our energy independence ”
Fueling your car from a gas station and heating/cooling your home with fuel from huge corporations is energy dependence. Powering your home and car from power generated on your own property owned by you is energy independence.
“Powering your home and car from power generated on your own property owned by you is energy independence.”
Not when every single component required for that generation, which requires constant upgrades and maintenance, is made by organizations halfway around the world.
And doubly so not; when you don’t even have any property; but are instead sharecropping for some abject retard whipping you around with a whip paid for by funds a central bank stole for him from you.
The only realistic “energy independence”, is access to sufficient capital; and the freedom use it productively; to produce enough value that someone with energy is willing to trade you some in exchange for what you can produce.
Sharecroppers lack such capital. While the morons having been handed “ownership” of the plantations as reward for being sufficiently pliant and indoctrinated to pose no realistic threat to “the system”; while the nominally have the capital, they are simply too dumb to do anything with it other than squander it. On “charging stations” and such.
Right, because an average person has the money to buy an EV and a house suitable for installing enough solar cells and a storage battery big enough to charge their EV overnight and power the house too.
Even if we had a mature EV charging network across the country, I still wouldn’t buy/use an EV for long distance travel. I’m not waiting a half hour or longer to charge.
This “Well, you have to eat” or “you have to stretch your legs” nonsense isn’t something I buy or subscribe to. I travel 10 hours to Florida several times a year. For most trips, I take 3 gas/restroom stops and 1 drive through stop to grab lunch and eat on the drive. I’ve mapped it out, and even with a Tesla, at best, a 10 hour drive turns to 12-13 hours.
“To support the transition to electric vehicles, we must build a national charging network that makes finding a charge as easy as filling up at a gas station,”
Translated from Newspeak: To further (if that is even possible, given the current state of the Nation…) support the slide back to the stone age, we must waste even more of the capital and resources previous generations of Americans built up, on nothing but nonsensical drivel only dumb and indoctrinated people can be suckered into mindlessly “believing” in….
Jeebus, this is a depressing way to start the day. But at least this site hasn’t gone all-in on Green/EV Drum Thumping like Autoblog.
I am hoping that being open, honest, and consistent with the readership will serve me well in the long run. I will always try to be square with you. Though I am sorry to hear the piece got you down. I would recommend going for a drive to unwind while listening to your favorite album. However I don’t know what your savings account looks like.
I went for a bike ride, and all is good. The world is always a better place after a ripping mtb ride!
@kosmo: “I went for a bike ride, and all is good.”
You did what? EPA is coming for you because that MTB probably has disc brakes that are as bad as diesel emissions. Combined with the tire particulate emissions, you seriously damaged the planet! They’re coming for you and your planet-killing bicycle.
https://www.greencarcongress.com/2020/03/20200308-emissionsanalytics.html
Note, I’m being sarcastic, but, you can bet at some point they’re coming after tires and brakes.
They can build all the charging infrastructure they want. The bigger question is when are they going to build all the power plants to feed the charging infrastructure? And what will be the fuel for those plants?
Dude: “They” can’t build anything. A ham sandwich is way outside their capabilities. All “they” can do is spout nonsense. And steal stuff, from the ever dwindling number of people who may still remain naive enough to bother building anything.
“They” are the same utilities you purchase electricity from today.
The grid has scaled up over the last century to meet demand. Why would that stop now? It’s not 1920 anymore.
There’s a lot of money to be made selling electricity; capitalist greed will continue to fuel EVs.
“The bigger question is when are they going to build all the power plants to feed the charging infrastructure?”
Desperate stuff by the Dems. Only Toyota and Honda aren’t throwing themselves off the cliff like lemmings.
And in other news, “Geico ordered to pay Missouri woman $5.2 million after she contracted STD in a car”
American dream is still alive. Only in America you can earn $5 mils by having sex in car.
@Inside Looking Out – The precedent was set with the infamous cup of McDonald’s coffee spilled in the lap. If you can’t earn it, litigate.
Although that stuff needs to cool ten minutes before you can try to blow on it through the cap on the cup, and not burn your lips! If you spilled that straight out of the cup and onto a vehicle, it would soften the steel or aluminum! I suppose in Hawaii, you could cool a cup down using a little bit of lava from a nearby volcano! :-D
Last time I had convenience-store coffee, I didn’t have to do the same!
Jalop 1991 is bereft of intellect.
…he says, not even bothering to mention anything about why he says that.
Transient Plasma Systems is working on a new advanced ignition system that could replace traditional spark plugs in gasoline engines. This could reduce emissions and improve the efficiency of internal combustion engines by as much as 20%.
@Lou_BC–Interesting I never heard of that. Many of the articles Matt writes are fodder to the the MAGA groups that come on this site to spew the political propaganda and are less interested in discussing ideas and solutions as much as the blame game and propaganda. The MAGAs want to turn the clock back to the times when America was the leading global power which were times of economic growth for the US but you also had the Cold War, racial discrimination. vehicles that were less safe, and less advances in medicine (pre Polio, pre heart transplants, and other medical advances we now take for granted). I remember Polio as a child and the duck and cover fear of a nuclear war. Every time period has its positives and negatives but we never can turn the clock back we have to adapt and survive. I am not saying to not speak up or stand up for what you believe in but to blame a politician or others for everything that is wrong or that you don’t like. Watching the January 6 hearings I don’t want mob rule where if a group disagrees with an election or a leader they don’t like they want to overthrow a government. Never in my lifetime up till Jan 6, 2021 did I every remember any President advocating to a mob to take over the Government and overthrow an election. I cannot trust any leader whether they be a Republican, a Democrat, or an Independent who would advocate those actions. I would rather have an imperfect Government than one that is ruled by a mob. If you don’t agree or like an elected official then you have a right at the next election to vote them out.
I’ve tripped across several automotive industry related stories that would be great to hear more about but #triggered gets more clicks.
Here is one that should be front and centre of any energy debate:
How many years of fossil fuels are left?
According to research based on 2015 data, the current statement of when our reserves will be emptied is this:
Oil: 51 years Coal: 114 years Natural gas: 53 years
“How many years of fossil fuels are left?”
Haven’t we already been through this?
As I recall, the world was going to be out of oil by the year 2000.
Do you want to live in a country where the losing candidate uses her connections to the FBI to start a counterintelligence investigation on the winner, to falsely accuse him of having a secret server connection to Russia, with the intent to delegitimize his election and cripple his administration? Sound kinda how banana republics work to me.
I’m sure you you believe that The Great Orange Cheeto lost because of some massive conspiracy.
Did I say that Lou? Do you want to pretend that Hillary Clinton and her minions didn’t didn’t do that? Do you really want to defend it?
Ignoring the Truthiness About Politix aspects….and I get being conservative but your last president wasn’t anything to be proud of.
One of the problems we see in many areas is proprietary lock in. This is why it is cheaper to move money by text in Africa than it is here in the US where 3.5 credit card companies own the space and you cannot escape.
Every electric maker would like to have the proprietary plug, and make the whole world use theirs with perpetual royalty….but EV space requires ONE plug, or at least agreement and open source on the plugs used. Using phones as an example, Apple Lightning phone plug is what each maker wants, so to speak, but USB-C is how that market should go.
Some times rent seeking isn’t the way. This is one place a national standard would make a lot of sense instead of some stupid VHS v Betamax war.
Mods, can we somehow delete the political nonsense. I got Twitter for that.
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