WSJ Electric Vehicle Road Trip a Disaster
Breitbart Environment,
by
Joel B. Pollak
Original Article
Posted By: Ribicon,
6/7/2022 11:31:39 PM
The Wall Street Journal reported this weekend on a four-day road trip from New Orleans to Chicago and back in an electric vehicle (EV) that ended up as a disaster—one that left the author grateful for her ordinary car, even at today’s high gas price. The Journal article, by Rachel Wolfe, was titled: “I Rented an Electric Car for a Four-Day Road Trip. I Spent More Time Charging It Than I Did Sleeping.”(Snip)“The woman charging next to us describes a harrowing recent trip in her Volkswagen ID.4. Deborah Carrico, 65, had to be towed twice while driving between her Louisville, Ky., apartment and Boulder, Colo.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
SALady 6/7/2022 11:41:53 PM (No. 1179369)
I have to drive from Austin, TX, to El Paso, TX, several times a year for family business. It about 600 miles each way.
Including bathroom stops, and filling up with gas once on the way (which takes about 10 minutes), I can drive there or back in about 9 hours.
If I tried to do that same trip in an EV, it would take me 2 days. I would drive 300 miles (if I were lucky), stop to charge it for 8+ hours (if I were lucky enough to find a charger out in the middle of nowhere), and then finish the trip. So probably an 18 hour trip, which means 2 days on the road. No thank you!!!!
Maybe an EV would be great if you live in a city, only drive in that city, and can charge it every night when you are asleep. But for those of us who want or need to drive long distances, EV's are useless until they can find a way to fully charge them in 15 minutes -- and put those super fast chargers in every gas station in this country!!!!
36 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
snakeoil 6/7/2022 11:49:11 PM (No. 1179375)
Minor error in article. Governor Nuisance ordered CA to swithch to EV in 2025 not the 3025 in the article. There is another problem with EV, fire. Some EV companies recommend that you not park them in your garage. Park it outside. If I parked my vehicle outside the next day I'd have no car or a vandalized car. I'll get a horse before an EV.
38 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
Nimby 6/8/2022 12:02:29 AM (No. 1179382)
Michiganders! Debbie S from your great state talks about how great her EV is!!!
19 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
DVC 6/8/2022 12:06:00 AM (No. 1179383)
My wife told about this story a few hours ago.
Electric vehicles are unworkable toys which are useless for intercity travel.
Thd technology of tged future....forever.
17 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
SweetPea3 6/8/2022 12:07:55 AM (No. 1179385)
Hahahahaha, snort, snicker. Hahahahahaaaaaa.
18 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
Californian 6/8/2022 12:09:27 AM (No. 1179387)
Let's be real. It doesn't take 8 hours to charge an EV at a charging station. Depending on the EV, the charger and if you need to go past 80% battery it is anywhere from 30m to 3hours but typically an hour gets you most of a full charge at most chargers for most EV. It's called "stopping for lunch".
No, an EV isn't as easy to do long trips as a gas car but let's neither be silly about it nor just flat out make things up. We have the Marxists to do that.
I have a Tesla model 3 I've made 500+ mile trips and it's annoying but not that big a deal with some planning and common sense.
I also have a sports car that now takes over $100 to fill. The Tesla is way cheaper than $100 per trip for long trips. Comparing to a toy like the Kia in the article is silly.
A bunch of you will snark or not upvote. I don't care. I live in a fact based world.
9 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
justavoter 6/8/2022 12:19:36 AM (No. 1179393)
I hear K-Mart has a blue light special on carry out cans of electricity just for cases like this.
37 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
Skinnydip 6/8/2022 12:45:02 AM (No. 1179404)
3025 may have been a typo, but it’s probably closer to the truth.
21 people like this.
T0 #2, snake oil: Well 3025 is a lot more realistic! Perhaps that's what Gov. Newsom meant to do. By then we might have fusion power producing electricity if "civilization" doesn't collapse first!
Electric cars are for those who want to impress everyone with how concerned they are about "climate change," so they always drive them to the airports where they keep their private jets.
21 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
SALady 6/8/2022 1:04:31 AM (No. 1179408)
Sorry #6, but I live in Austin, TX -- the headquarters of Tesla. I have 3 neighbors (2 of which moved here to work for Tesla) who own Teslas. My neighbors are the ones who told me what the charging times are and how they are definitely the "Achiles Tendon" for Teslas (and all EV's) right now. And they also know that the capacity of the batteries will decrease, while the charging times will increase, as the batteries get older. They all have the better NEMA 14-50 home chargers (the fastest 240V home charger for a Tesla), but they can take from 9 to 10.5 hours to fully charge a depleted battery depending on the Tesla model you own. They do say that Tesla dealerships have "superchargers" that cut down the charging time, but nowhere near what you have described and definitely not something you are going to find every 300 miles on a cross country drive -- plus they only work for Teslas and not other brands of EV's.
The Tesla employees did say that Tesla is working hard to get the charging times down substantially, but it's still going to be several years until that is a reality. I hope they are right -- especially with the lie-beral fascists trying to ram electric vehicles down our throats. But I can guarantee everyone that you won't find an EV in my garage until you can find 15 minute charges all over the country!!!!
They all drive their Teslas around town and love them. But they all also have either pickup trucks or crossovers for road trips and vacations.
54 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
john56 6/8/2022 1:08:36 AM (No. 1179410)
The big "sell" on electric cars is that you can charge "for free." Well, the WSJ folks proved that.
She had to spend $275 at charging stations enroute. You know, power ain't free. Nor are the charging stations and some very savvy entrepenuers are getting into the act. I spoke with a hotel owner the other day. There is a vendor offering to install an electric charging station at his hotel FOR FREE (which would be an expense of a couple of grand).
Of course, there's a catch. The owner would have to supply (and pay) the electric bill, Of course, the vendor would set up a credit card payment kiosk with the charger and share the receipts with the owner. Didn't get what the charging fee would be to the driver, but I'm not thinking that either the vendor or the hotelier is going to lose any money on the transaction.
33 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
PismoPat 6/8/2022 1:36:35 AM (No. 1179416)
This is why you should buy a Tesla. I just got off of a 2,000-mile round trip to Oregon and I spent 40 minutes a day (2 charges) charging, not including the initial charge. The car's NAV system outlined where to stop and charge and how long to charge.
3 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
ussjimmycarter 6/8/2022 1:51:23 AM (No. 1179419)
Teslas are remarkably poorly built and they have a terrible track record for service! Plus stuff just breaks or stops working! Oh, and occasionally you can have a nice weenie roast when the batteries explode while charging! But hey, you look super dope with TESLA on the car!!! $100 Large? Good Luck!
20 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
DVC 6/8/2022 2:02:57 AM (No. 1179424)
The electric car has been "the car of the future" since 1896. No typo, NOT 1996. Way over a century they have been telling us that "we have a new battery that will solve all these problems -- just a few years away" for over a century.
Pardon me while I snicker.
32 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
Trigger2 6/8/2022 4:47:07 AM (No. 1179447)
EVs are just another failure for Joey. First of all, who can afford them? Second of all, why does Joey push them when there's no infrastructure for them? Who is Joey enriching now?
27 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
globalwarmer 6/8/2022 5:02:49 AM (No. 1179461)
I'm guessing Joey's handlers are pushing this, the WEF.
14 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
Californian 6/8/2022 6:55:25 AM (No. 1179507)
10, charging at home can take 8+ hours, sure. That's why you'd charge over night. Who is driving their car all day and then all night? The article was about taking long trips and using chargers on the highway. My charge times are my personal experience driving on real highways for short and long distances. Not from a friend who knows a guy.
13, I have been driving for 40+ years. Tesla has the best service of any car I've ever owned from any manufacturer. The best part is how many things they can fix by coming out to you. For free. The build quality is average. It is not great but it is better than several cars I've owned. When I got mine it had some glitches which I reported and they came out to my driveway and fixed 2 days later. Try that with anyone else. Yes, some have caught fire, so have some gas cars. That's why I have never parked ANY car in my garage, ever. Who wants the fumes from a gas car in their house even if it doesn't explode? Mine is now 4 years old, my battery life has shrunk about 7%. At that rate I'll be down 15% at 10 years long after I would have traded it in anyway.
Facts. Truth. Honesty. I live in that world. Not sorry at all to those who want to hate based on made up lies or misinformation. Sometimes we have to adjust our views based on reality. I hope our side can do that because the Marxists sure can't and that intellectual stagnation will be their downfall.
4 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
F15 Gork 6/8/2022 7:02:25 AM (No. 1179513)
EV’s are OK for 18 holes of golf........beyond that? Not so much.
24 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
Jethro bo 6/8/2022 7:10:23 AM (No. 1179520)
Talked to a couple that proudly drove their Tesla from Los Angeles to New Orleans. The drove in late May across the Southwest US, West Texas, South Texas and into South Louisiana during very hot days. It only took them 20 days to make the trip. Seems there were not enough fast charge facilities on the way. EV, making Carter's 55 mph speed limit fell like racing at the Indy 500.
12 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
Mr Clean 6/8/2022 7:11:10 AM (No. 1179522)
#6 praises his EV and dismisses the valid concerns raised. He says in conclusion, "I live in a fact based world."
No, you live in an alternate reality called California where things are often based on anything but facts.
Renewables integrated into our transportation and electrical grid will be great when they're ready for prime time but we're years away from that reality. The forced transition away from fossil-based fuels now is akin to launching an ocean liner before the hull is complete: a recipe for disaster.
31 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
JrSample 6/8/2022 8:03:16 AM (No. 1179555)
In a new car or truck the first component that usually fails is the battery, and it is only being used to power auxiliary equipment. An EV is using an entire bank of batteries as the power for main propulsion. These are a bad idea. If this transition is really necessary, a hybrid makes much more sense.
7 people like this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
LC Chihuahua 6/8/2022 8:05:08 AM (No. 1179556)
EVs may well be our future. Time will tell. The technology and logistics are already improving. Where will it be in 10 years? Does anyone think gas prices will go back down to where they were? Longterm, prices go up, not down. The biggest problem I have with EVs are that they are too expensive.
In 2019, I flew down to Florida for the winter, and then COVID hit. I finally got back to my house in 2022 and sold it in 3 hours. I abandoned 90% of my stuff and sold my car. I haven't used any of it in over 2 years and I NEVER MISSED IT.
I don't even own a car right now (the Lady Chihuahua does). Literally everything I own fits in one room. I never intended to downsize, but there it is. I don't regret it at all.
I will eventually buy a car, but it will be what is most affordable. It won't be an EV because they are too expensive. I will most likely purchase a used hybrid. Save your money folks!
4 people like this.
Reply 23 - Posted by:
Venturer 6/8/2022 8:44:42 AM (No. 1179590)
Electric cars are basically golf carts.
Great for riding around the golf course , but you would not try to go to work every day in one.
8 people like this.
Reply 24 - Posted by:
walcb 6/8/2022 8:55:20 AM (No. 1179596)
Gas prices have gone up and down many times.
5 people like this.
Reply 25 - Posted by:
planetgeo 6/8/2022 9:20:44 AM (No. 1179617)
#6, your perception that you live in a fact-based world is a self-delusion because you're not looking at all the facts. You're only looking at (a) your own experience with your Tesla, (b) with its specialized supercharging stations, and (c) only at the present adequacy of the nation's electrical grid. Congratulations!
But I hope you're keeping a bicycle or a gas-powered scooter in the trunk of that fine Tesla because you're going to need it in the very near future. One of the facts that apparently don't show up in your fact-based world is that the nation's electrical grid is about to start collapsing...pretty much like the twin towers on 9-11. On purpose. The Democrats have been purposely destroying it. Shutting down nuclear power plants (hey, you're from California, so drive by the shell of San Onofre, or soon, Diablo Canyon, so your Tesla can say goodbye to all those megawatts). Ditto coal and natural gas. So you better pray that the wind keeps blowing all those windmills in Palm Springs, and the sun keeps shining.
And I'm not talking years from now. A few weeks ago we got a letter from our power company telling us to prepare for brownouts NEXT year that they expect in order to avoid full blackouts. So Dude...stick that up your half-fact-based world. (HINT: even Tesla superchargers don't work when the electrical grid is down.) Oh, and maybe tow a Honda gas-powered generator behind your Tesla.
14 people like this.
Reply 26 - Posted by:
Dodge Boy 6/8/2022 9:47:37 AM (No. 1179640)
I can appreciate Wolfe's experience with an ecar. Ecars are equally useless in western Colorado where I live given the wide-open spaces. I have a firm picture of the freeways in the People's Republic of Denver being constantly blocked with ecars stalling due to dead batteries especially in bad weather and at night when head lights have to be used. And hmmm...the high current draw required for operating air conditioning in an ecar during a really hot day or operating the heater during a really cold day. I have a firm picture how this will work. Not well.
The greenies can force the issue all they want because ecars make them feel good. But it will be a long long time, if ever, before ecars have any future in our society.
4 people like this.
Reply 27 - Posted by:
FLCracker 6/8/2022 9:50:50 AM (No. 1179643)
No mention as to whether the chargers were already in use and they had to wait their turn. Since there are several mentions of having to track down someone to turn on or unlock the charger, I guess not.
However, you can bet that the number of chargers available will drag along behind sales of EVs, not anticipate it. Add that to your perils of Pauline.
2 people like this.
Reply 28 - Posted by:
Cat Ballou 6/8/2022 10:01:21 AM (No. 1179650)
"A bunch of you will snark or not upvote. I don't care. I live in a fact based world."
And where will your energy come from to charge your electric car #6? My facts say fossil fuels.
10 people like this.
Reply 29 - Posted by:
bpl40 6/8/2022 10:17:29 AM (No. 1179662)
She is lucky it didn’t catch fire and prematurely cremate her!
0 people like this.
Reply 30 - Posted by:
red1066 6/8/2022 10:20:48 AM (No. 1179669)
A friend of mine told me of the planning his son had to do before going from Las Vegas to Texas in his Tesla. He's in the Air Force and was being transferred to a base in Texas. While his trip went off without a hitch, he told his dad it was like planning a military operation.
3 people like this.
Reply 31 - Posted by:
zephyrgirl 6/8/2022 10:50:00 AM (No. 1179701)
A friend got a company-provided Tesla and drove it for many months. He and his wife drove it on a 600+ mile trip to visit one of their children. What was usually a 9 hour trip became a 12+ hour trip. They never took the Tesla on a long-distance trip again, and it was replaced with a large SUV within a year.
9 people like this.
Reply 32 - Posted by:
earlybird 6/8/2022 11:19:31 AM (No. 1179728)
Meanwhile that moron Debbie Stabenow was bragging on TV about driving her EV from Michigan to DC and beaming about being able to pass gas stations. (What about charging, Debbie?)
5 people like this.
Reply 33 - Posted by:
DVC 6/8/2022 11:34:07 AM (No. 1179743)
And no mention is ever made that faster rates of charging are more damaging to the battery. A battery is capable of roughly 1,000 charge-discharge cycles when new, and if partial charging, at slow rates are used, this can be as many as several thousand partial charges. But, the faster you charge, the sooner that battery will have to be replaced. So, these "fast charging" things are saving time now, at the huge expense of shortened battery life.
This is essentially NEVER mentioned by the electric vehicle sellers and propagandists. I love the "fact based" EV guy. The facts clearly say that EVs are a joke for intercity travel, useful for daily commuting where you will be back at your home to recharge overnight every night, and even then, only if you have money to burn on these expensive, impractical, uneconomic toys. The economics do not work at all.
One of the biggest reasons that the leftist are desparate to increase the costs of fuel is as a desperate try to make the hideous economics of ALL their "eco" toys more favorable. Impossible to drive down the costs of these "green" disasters, from EVs to solar, to windmills......so DRIVE UP the costs of normal power with insane laws and intentionally caused shortages to try to make the economics more even for their terrible "eco" dreams.
4 people like this.
Reply 34 - Posted by:
MDConservative 6/8/2022 11:51:12 AM (No. 1179754)
I couldn't care less what energy powers your vehicle. Caveat emptor...and it's your money to spend. This EV thread reads like any involving Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Let the marketplace decide, as it has in the past. You like EVs, fine with me. You don't like EVs or hybrids, your choice. IMO, EVs will die without subsidies. The technology and the price of commodities to manufacture will ensure high prices into the distant future. Toss in the questionable ability of generators to churn out enough power to maintain daily life and added demand from widespread EVs...I'll wait. Now, we already have acquiesced to bi-partisan Presidential abuse of the Defense Production Act to direct our economy...and there's this "war" on climate change...we don't need more fossil fuel vehicles to foul our air, do we? Stroke of the pen, law of the land. Remember those days? Maybe a bit of "warp speed" development of more efficient battery technology and motors...on the public dime, of course.
2 people like this.
Reply 35 - Posted by:
mc squared 6/8/2022 12:25:39 PM (No. 1179788)
#6; Glad you like your EV, it's about choice, I don't think you will convince many of us, though.
Have you seen the lines at the scarce charging stations before you even plug in?
2 people like this.
Reply 36 - Posted by:
mc squared 6/8/2022 12:30:17 PM (No. 1179792)
Sorry, for the second post, but I don't think state and fed 'road taxes' are included in the kilowatt hours for your car yet. You think they will let this revenue slip away? Given time, the cost to charge and to fill up with Ethel will be very close. Right now it's an 'introductory price'.
2 people like this.
Reply 37 - Posted by:
Periwinkel 6/8/2022 3:09:40 PM (No. 1179908)
Deborah Carrico age 65 should really give up marijuana! Shes too old.
2 people like this.
Comments:
You will be forced to buy an electric car, and you will like it.