I’m waiting for the day when it is discovered – no, admitted – that electrically powered cars are actually more environmentally harmful than internal combustion powered cars have ever been. From components used in the batteries to the fossil fuel powered electricity generation stations, I’m just waiting.
When California’s idiot senators want to use federal mandates to push electric car use instead of letting the market decide for itself you know you’re in trouble. Hell, California can’t avoid rolling blackouts during peak electrical demand as it is. The current status of power station construction is certainly bleak. And now the powers that be want to mandate that by 2035, in a state with over 26 million registered vehicles out of which less than a million are plug-ins, all new car sales be electric powered only.
This part is only for people who give a crap: The former says nothing about people driving long distances. Where are the charging stations? Who pays for them? It takes about 5 minutes or so to fill a tank with a fossil fuel whether it be unleaded gasoline or compressed natural gas (CNG). The average length of time to fully recharge a battery once depleted? 8-10 hours – HOURS!! Depending on what kind of driving I’m doing I can travel anywhere from ~280 miles to over 420 on one tank of gas in my pre-owned 2011 vehicle that I bought for roughly $16k. For the sake of argument, that means I can travel 6 hours at 70 mph on the highway, refill in about 5 minutes and be ready to go again. Meanwhile, the electric vehicle with the greatest range is the 2020 Tesla Model S Long Range Plus at 402 miles. Just about the same range except in order to fully recharge you will now be off the road for a minimum of 6 hours. Assuming you could find Tesla Supercharge locations you could spend 15 minutes to gain an additional 163 miles. That’s roughly 15 minutes out of every 2 ½ hours traveled. All that for low, low cost of about $74,990, including $1,200 destination charge. Of course there are much lower priced electrical vehicles. Unfortunately they’re accompanied by much lower performance.