Thoughts for the Day, August 30, 2022: Do we have the fortitude to invest in our infrastructure?

Last week, California passed a law requiring all new cars sold in 2035 and beyond to be non-gasoline engine cars.  Per newspaper reports, it received very little pushback from the auto industry which is clearly gearing up production of electric vehicles.  Also last week Ford announced the elimination of 3,000 jobs, to fund their increased investment in EVs. 

I am all for taking care of the environment.  If the elimination of gasoline powered vehicles can help with that, have at it.  However, the practical person in me has doubts about our country’s ability to gear up for a society with all electric vehicles.  I want to share excerpts from an article that appeared in MIT Technology Review published June 28, 2022.

The United States has around 150,000 fuel stations to refill its fleet of fossil-fuel-burning vehicles. Despite the rapid growth of all-electric vehicles in America—400,000 of them were sold in 2021, up from barely 10,000 in 2012—the country has only 6,000 DC fast electric charging stations, the kind that can rapidly juice up a battery-powered car. (It has more than 48,000 charging stations of all kinds.)

Large cities have a growing number of fast chargers, but not nearly enough to accommodate a major influx of EVs. Away from cities, these chargers are strung along interstate highways closely enough to allow electric cars safe passage. Otherwise, they are nearly nonexistent in rural America. And EV stations have a problem that gas stations don’t: “Even the fastest Tesla supercharger is still going to take 15 minutes to put a couple hundred miles on the vehicle,” says Jeremy Michalek, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and director of its Vehicle Electrification Group. 

Michalek says American charging infrastructure lags far behind what’s needed for the whole country to transition to electric driving. On the bright side, there is time to catch up, because not all Americans will embrace EVs at once. Most early adopters were those with access to a charger at home in their garage or parking space. Those owners can wake up with a full battery and only need to rely on public chargers when they leave town on an extended trip. But as the country gets to higher levels of EV adoption, the current infrastructure won’t be enough. That is why Michalek says the US needs to prioritize bulking up the number of chargers at rest stops along well-traveled highways, especially as more people pile into electric cars for summertime road trips.

“As we get to higher levels of EV adoption, if we don’t have enough chargers for peak demand, the wait times are going to be unlike what we see with gas stations,” he says.

At a June meeting of the California Air Resources Board (Carb), some automotive companies said the timeline of the state’s transition to electric vehicles would be difficult for the industry.

“There are very real challenges in meeting consumer demand for affordability, ease of charging, while at the same time overcoming existing global supply chain disruptions and limited access to critical minerals,” said David Barker with North American Subaru. “And all of these challenges are amplified for smaller manufacturers like Subaru.”

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents many major carmakers, said meeting the state’s ambitious timeline will be challenging due to the lack of charging infrastructure, access to materials needed for batteries and supply chain issues. “These are complex, intertwined and global issues well beyond the control of either [Carb] or the auto industry,” said John Bozzella, the group’s president.

I bring this up as a reality check.  We have an electric grid that struggles to keep up with the increasing demand for power.  Power that is generated from power plants that use resources that many feel are also harmful to the environment.  We also have a power grid that struggles get power on a consistent basis to its customers.  It is regulated by individual states that don’t always work well together when it comes to sharing power.  Think Texas during the cold spell of 2021.  As I write this, many homes are without power in SE Michigan because of last night’s storms.

As the country gears up for the switch to electric vehicles it is going to take a tremendous investment in our infrastructure.  To date, we have not shown a willingness to invest in infrastructure, as shown by the condition of our roads, bridges, water treatment plants, electric grid, schools, etc.  I am not sure the current political divide in the country will allow the politicians to come together with a solution to fund the investment. 

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Elections Matter. Pray for peace and tolerance. What are you doing to stop the violence and mass killings? 

Orchid of the Day:  Serena Williams for advancing past the first round at the U.S. Open with her victory last night.

Onion of the Day:  The electricity power suppliers who continually struggle to provide power to its customers following a storm. 

Quote of the Day:  “I cannot believe how the golf gods treat me, after all I do for golf.”  My golf buddy Mike Koscuc after one of his putts lipped out today.

Question of the Day:  Does Serena Williams have one last championship in her as she competes in her last U.S. Open?

Video/Image of the Day:  “I still haven’t found what I am looking for.” Playing for Change, covering the U2 song.