Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm addresses reporters Thursday April 8, 2021, in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Cameron Smith)
A Government Road Trip: Even Less Fun Than It Sounds.
James Freeman in the WSJ explains Americans’ increasing distress over public charging stations. Becoming worse are EVs’ glitchy, inoperable equipment at the stations.
The WSJ’s Jennifer Hiller reports:
… the U.S. government plans to launch a $100 million effort to try to tackle the reliability issue and make public charging less annoying and more consistent. The funding aims to repair and replace thousands of old or out-of-commission chargers that are contributing to a roll-of-the-dice sensation among EV drivers, who never know what they might find.
“Imagine what it would be like if you couldn’t be sure when you pulled into a gas station that you’d actually get gas out of it,” said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in an interview.
Ms. Hiller also reports that one in five attempts at a public station outside of the Tesla network is a bust (study by J.D. Power).
From Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg:
“Imagine what it would be like if you couldn’t be sure when you pulled into a gas station that you’d actually get gas out of it.”
Buttigieg, who owns a hybrid minivan, is no stranger to the frustration of unreliable equipment.
“We’ve definitely had that experience.
Matter of fact, had it just a few days ago at a park in town,” he said. A parking spot with a charger was open, but it wasn’t working.
A Common E-Misfortune
Camila Domonoske of National Public Radio reports on Sec. of Energy Granholm’s 4-day EV road trip this summer. Charging, the secretary knew, would be a challenge.
Granholm’s trip through the southeast, from Charlotte, N.C., to Memphis, Tenn., was intended to draw attention to the billions of dollars the White House is pouring into green energy and clean cars.
Life on the road can get complicated, Mr. Freeman reminds readers, especially when one is chasing a dream and looking for media attention. Sec. Granholm knew charging might be a challenge to a four-day electric-vehicle road trip, but she didn’t expect anyone to call the cops.
The Royalty Shan’t Be Inconvenienced
Ms. Domonoske reports:
(Granholm’s) advance team realized there weren’t going to be enough plugs to go around. One of the station’s four chargers was broken, and others were occupied. So an Energy Department staffer tried parking a nonelectric vehicle by one of those working chargers to reserve a spot for the approaching secretary of energy.
Family Vacation
When a regular gas-powered car was blocking the only free spot for a charger a family was boxed out — on a sweltering day, with a baby in the vehicle. So upset was the family, it “decided to get the authorities involved: The family called the police.”
Biden administration officials remain on a passionate quest to prove that efficient petroleum-free travel is not a fiction, continues Mr. Freeman.
For taxpayers and consumers, the quest for e-travel may turn out to be no fun at all.
