I’m in the editing phase of Backwater Squall and had a discussion with my inner editor about what kind of car one of the suspects should drive. I originally used a Mercedes, would add to the complexity of the chase as there are so many in South Florida. Instead I chose a Tesla. I used the electric vehicle to match the car to the character. And then I realized I had changed the paradigm of her escape.
Electric vehicles are the hot new thing, at least according to the government who is pushing them on an uneducated public. Offering tax incentives at the Federal level of up to $7,500 with additional incentives from the state, they are more affordable than ever. Note that the federal incentives don’t apply to Tesla’s (who has more revenue from electric vehicles than all the other manufacturers combined) as they are non-union. Though electric cars are all we hear about they still only make up 2% of sales. That’s not cars on the road, that is 2021 sales.
Here’s what they’re not telling you:
Range - I discovered this when researching the escape vehicle. The Tesla has a max range of 400 miles. From Miami, that’s the would leave it out of fuel somewhere around the I-4 corridor. Many other models have far less range. For example, the new Ford Lightning is listed as 230 miles with the standard battery and 300 with the expanded one.
Range is a moving target - Without the ability to recharge the batteries while running (an alternator does this in a gas car, or the engine charges the batteries in a hybrid) accessories matter. Air conditioning, heat, media systems, heated seats … all draw off the vehicle's batteries and can account for as much as 35% of the power use. So, on a 90 degree Florida day that can bring the Teslas range down to 300 miles and destroy the Lightning’s capacity.
Comfort is a moving target - Knowing that running the air conditioning will cost you miles (and therefore dollars) staying cool becomes a decision instead of something that we take for granted in a gas car where the compressor is run off the engine. And what do you do in a traffic jamb when staying cool might be off the table because you will drain the battery before you can reach a charging station.
Charging - At home without an upgraded charging system, the Lightning charges at 13 miles per hour of charging. With the upgraded system, it increases to 30 miles per charging hour. A full charge with the upgraded system takes 8 hours.
More Charging - A fast-charging station is an option, but they aren’t free like the other charging stations ( the ones you see at Target’s and other retailers are generally slow charge stations). In South Tampa, where we live there are 3 stations. When we’re in the Keys we would have to drive 23 miles from Big Pine to Marathon. These stations are faster. A 10-minute charge will give 54 miles of range. But a full charge is still almost an hour.
Your house will need some work - To add a “standard” read “slow” charging station to your house should be straightforward but would require an electrician and a permit. To add an upgraded “fast” station (80 amps) will often require a service upgrade which can get very expensive.
Your neighborhood will need some work - If everyone on your street upgrades their service, the infrastructure would need an upgrade to accommodate the new demand.
Batteries - Power storage is a problem with several issues. Weight is one. The Lighting weighs 1,000 pounds more than its gas counterpart. Environmentally, they are also a disaster. The minerals required to manufacture the batteries require mining operations that are in countries where ethics, both toward the environment and their laborers are not near our standards. Disposal is another issue. Where do all these batteries go after their stated 10-year service life?
Breakdowns - In On Fixing Things I wrote about how hard it is to deal with newer cars. You don’t stand a chance with an electric one.
A reader sent me this as well:
Imagine Florida with a hurricane coming toward Miami. The Governor orders an evacuation. All cars head north. They all need to be charged in Jacksonville. How does that work? Has anyone thought about this?
If all cars were electric and were caught up in a three-hour traffic jam with dead batteries, then what? Not to mention that there is virtually no heating or air conditioning in an electric vehicle because of high battery consumption.
If you get stuck on the road all night, no battery, no heating, no windshield wipers, no radio, no GPS (all these drain the batteries), all you can do is try calling 911 to take women and children to safety. But they cannot come to help you because all roads are blocked, and they will probably require all police cars will be electric also. When the roads become unblocked no one can move! Their batteries are dead.
How do you charge the thousands of cars in the traffic jam? Same problem during summer vacation departures with miles of traffic jams. There would be virtually no air conditioning in an electric vehicle. It would drain the batteries quickly. Where is this electricity going to come from? Today's grid barely handles users' needs. Can't use nuclear, natural gas is quickly running out. Oil fired is out of the question, then where?
The Biden administration announced yesterday $5B in funding for states to construct charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. It marks the first tranche of funding drawn for such projects under the $1.2T bipartisan infrastructure bill passed last year.
Initial funds will be focused on fast-charging stations located along major interstate highways, an attempt to address a disconnected and difficult to access charging infrastructure across the country. The administration has set a goal of 500,000 new chargers by 2030, an elevenfold increase over current stations.
To my knowledge there have been zero incidences of success when the government takes sides in the free market. This doesn’t mean regulation which though often anti-business is needed. It means backing a particular sector, or in the exclusion of Tesla in the incentive programs, companies using union labor.
Unlike the government, the free market has proven time and again it is capable of identifying problems and fixing them without government interference.