Energy Sec. Granholm’s EV Road Trip Includes a Family Calling the Police on Her Entourage
“That did not go down well: a regular gas-powered car blocking the only free spot for a charger?”
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm went on a road trip to show off the amazing electric vehicles available for the public.
NPR’s Camila Domonoske rode with Granholm.
Domonoske included everything in her article, proving there is no way America can change to only electric vehicles anytime soon.
For example, look at what happened in Grovetown, a suburb of Augusta. GA:
But between stops, Granholm’s entourage at times had to grapple with the limitations of the present. Like when her caravan of EVs — including a luxury Cadillac Lyriq, a hefty Ford F-150 and an affordable Bolt electric utility vehicle — was planning to fast-charge in Grovetown, a suburb of Augusta, Georgia.
Her 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.
That did not go down well: a regular gas-powered car blocking the only free spot for a charger?
In fact, a family that was boxed out — on a sweltering day, with a baby in the vehicle — was so upset they decided to get the authorities involved: They called the police.
The sheriff’s office couldn’t do anything. It’s not illegal for a non-EV to claim a charging spot in Georgia. Energy Department staff scrambled to smooth over the situation, including sending other vehicles to slower chargers, until both the frustrated family and the secretary had room to charge.
Granholm’s entourage had cars from Cadillac, Ford, and Chevrolet.
Of course, the union-loving secretary wouldn’t have Teslas with her.
Domonoske pointed out that “Tesla chargers are significantly better than the competition.” The majority of electric cars driven by Americans are Teslas:
Tesla is opening up its exclusive network to more vehicles, which could transform the charging experience as soon as next year, but not all automakers have embraced Tesla’s technology. And although Tesla dominates the EV market, the Biden administration wants every automaker to go electric quickly and every driver to have access to fast, reliable charging.
“Ultimately, we want to make it super-easy for people to travel long distances,” Granholm told me.
But as she knows, long-distance travel in non-Tesla EVs is not always “super-easy” today.
Domonoske admitted: “EVs that aren’t Teslas have a road trip problem, and the White House knows it’s urgent to solve this issue.”
The whole idea is nothing but insanity.
In South Carolina, Granholm explained how to get federal money for chargers:
At a stop in South Carolina, Granholm told audiences she recognized the importance of making chargers easy to find on apps.
For chargers to qualify for new federal money, the energy secretary explained, “they have to be every 50 miles and within 1 mile off the charging corridor, and they have to be app enabled. So you have to be able to see with your phone, is this charger available so that I can go use it, right?”
It doesn’t matter since there aren’t enough chargers around the country. The ones that exist don’t charge fast enough. Plus, nothing is reliable.
I’ll keep my 2019 Toyota 4Runner.
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Comments
Typical non-Tesla range is 100 miles or less.
Plus, continual fast-charging dramatically reduces battery life.
What the heck are you talking about?? Mate, if your going to have an opinion on something like this then at least do yourself a favour and actually look into these things instead of believing what ever it is you once saw on the intraweb years ago.
There’s enough to consider when buying a fully electric car without making stuff up. Good for you, mailman. Facts should matter.
Are you criticizing Navyvet for repeating a well known fact? Fast-charging batteries shortens their lives.
Petruska may have the range for (unspecified) EV’s wrong, but the more charge-discharge cycles you put them through, the lower the range will be, especially if you’re fast charging.
But there won’t ever be many people fast-charging unless the politicians reverse course and begin a rapid program of building more generating capacity (that works when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing!) and building an electrical grid that can handle much higher electrical loads.
That’s not going to happen while people like Jennifer Granholm are appointed to jobs like Energy Secretary. She tried acting, worked as a tour guide, and majored in political science and French before going to Harvard Law and working as a lawyer and in government. I don’t believe she knows how energy is measured or where it comes from. didn’t know what she was doing when she was the Governor of Michigan, and she sure doesn’t know what she’s doing now.
@Markm, Well known facts my butt.
Do your research. Fast charging does not significantly degrade batteries over slow charging, especially with Tesla’s charging system which limits fast charging to an 80% state of charge. Most potential fast charging damage occurs above 80%. Recurrent tracks thousands of Teslas with detailed charging data and the truth simply isn’t on your side.
But that wasn’t the point of your screeds, was it. Seems like your “well known fact” was just a jumping point for your Granholm screed.
You say: “Fast charging does not significantly degrade batteries over slow charging—”
then you say:
“Most potential fast charging damage occurs above 80%.”
I don’t own an electric vehicle, but wouldn’t you want to keep it charged above 80% most of the time? I like to keep my fuel tank topped off and when I fill up, I fill to 100%. Why would I want to do anything different with electricity?
I can put 200gal of diesel into my semi in 1/10th the time it takes to charge one of those ridiculous things and then drive about 1,400 miles
These people are tone deaf! This trip should have been about highlighting what needs to be done instead of just getting from one spot to the next for a political photo op!
Had that been the objective then the problem at this stop would have been educational because they would have been able to build a picture of the limitations of electrifying America AND maintaining those chargers once they are installed.
The politicians and media people pushing for EV’s do not want people to get a picture of the problems. The day that 51% of the voters understand that is the day the Democrats begin to become a minor party.
Wish I could have driven ahead of them in my rusted-out, 68 International Harvester, weaving so they couldn’t pass, while blowing a thick black cloud of oil out of the dangling tailpipe.
Wish I could have taken an entourage of ICE vehicles right in front of them along their tour path and blocked off every EV charger I could along their route until they were dead in the water alongside the road.
Traveling across the country with their coal powered cars. Virtue signal much?
EV? One word: Never. Granholm is as dim witted as Harris.
And we’ve known that about Granholm much longer.
Frankly the biggest take-away (for me) from this is the incompetency of the Secretary’s staff. Anyone who did any time as a factotum for a senior company official would never have let this happen.
The route should have been better chosen.
The route should have been dry-run *twice* before final selection.
The chargers should have all been tested two days before the trip (this gives the charging company plenty of time to fix any problems (see below).
The charging company should have been warned of the trip well in advance and told to have ALL the chargers on the route serviced before-hand.
The staff should have been out at midnight the night before marking and covering all the chargers as “out-of-service, and only removing those covers 5 minutes before the secretary’s ETA. (Staff tell the nosey that the charging company fixed them “just in time”).
There should have been an emergency back-up diesel generator – the whiney citizens could have quietly redirected to that – just out of ‘reporter range’.
It ain’t hard, it’s just tedious… and it only requires the ability to anticipate the obvious.
You are missing the point. If EVs are to become ubiquitous, as all the pols insist they must become, then there must be sufficient capacity to charge them in a convenient and timely fashion.
The average Joe Six-pack cannot send his entourage ahead to ensure there will be charger availability when he wants to take his wife and two kids to Yellowstone.
The whole notion is insane. You have to wait HOURS to fill up your car? I’ll take my ICE vehicle and fill up the tank in 5 minutes, thank you very much. It is very much like Somalia’s sprinter that everyone laughed at, except we’re not allowed to laugh at the stupidity of EVs.
EVs cannot replace ICE vehicles now, tomorrow, or ever. Thermodynamics is a bitch.
No, he didn’t miss the point. He’s claiming (rightly) that it goes beyond the problems with EVs to an incompetent bunch of religious fanatics who can’t even get basic things about photo ops right.
Also, EVs can replace ICE vehicles under one of two circumstances:
Either there is some ubiquitous infrastructure constantly charging them,
Or, they have a MUCH denser storage medium – say heavy water – that allows a constant production of electricity at a rate adequate for the motor train and all the necessary accessories. Like a Mr. Fusion.
Both are fantasies at this moment.
But this is the public sector and none of these incompetents would get fired for screwing up. They hate the private sector because there are consequences for stupidity.
So, what you are spouting is to build a Potemkin. village where it appears everything is OK, everything works, and unicorns fart energy.
What a fuckup.
Nah he’s arguing that these idiots can’t run a competent dog and pony show like we did in the military when some dignitary came to visit. Lots of rehearsals, lots of prior planning, several walkthroughs, sand tables and of course endless briefings with PowerPoint.
So the DC masterminds could have staged their lies better.
I did learn on thing from this story …
Bogart is a slang verb that means to selfishly take or keep something
In one piece about this trip, they referred to members of the entourage were caught trying to “bogart” parking spaces.
We knew that in high school in the 70s when the other tokers “Bogarted” the joint.
“Roll another one,
Just like the other one.
You been holding onto it,
And I sure would like a hit!
Don’t bogart that joint my friend,
Pass it over to me!
Don’t bogart that joint my friend,
Pass it over to me!”
Little Feat
Possibly, one has to have lived through the glory days of the 60s and 70s to appreciate the term “bogart”.
As in that famous song ” ♪♫ Don’t bogart that joint, my friend. Pass it over to me ♫♪”
Thanks alot.
Now Ive got that stupid tune in my head.
Although, it does bring back memories.
I should have read further so I didn’t duplicate your post!
If you can afford them, non plug in hybrids have the best of both worlds.
Not sure about that. Don’t they have a traditional transmission in addition to electric motors? More complexity. My mechanic won’t work on therm. You’re probably stuck with the dealer.
“I’ll keep my 2019 Toyota 4Runner.”
I don’t know that I’ve ever been moved more by one of your opinions . . . says the 2022 4Runner owner! 🙂
I’ll keep my 2006 Honda Element.
I think what you all missing is the fact the plebes come second to the parasite class.
I am sure most didn’t miss the fact that some pigs are more important than others.
So the “Road Trip” to highlight how awesome EV’s are at making long trips, had gas powered vehicles in its Caravan, LMAO!
Who wants to be they had at least one portable charger and a gas generator in one of those Gas Vehicles. ROFLMAO!
I’ll keep my 2010 mercury grand marquis and my 2019 silerado 1500 4door RST with Z71 package.
I can easily get 21mpg wth either vehicle.
our 203 Escape 2.0 turbo hits 22mpg easily.
and when its 20 below 0 (hey, I’m in Maine) they all start and heat up quickly.
and typos abound there.
2019 Silverado.
2013 Escape.
the White House knows it’s urgent to solve this issue
But there’s the problem. The federal gov’t has no authority to solve this issue, and it’s not how you successfully solve any market issue, anyway. The growth of gas stations across this land happened organically (with small exception) as the market grew. To force this, and to fund it with taxpayer (and future taxpayer) funds, will just ensure it is going to fail.
Dinky little 2015 Nissan Versa Note driver here, who hits 40mpg and can drive all across the country without worrying about finding a fuel station.
2019 Hyundai Ioniq. 50-55 MPG in good weather commuting 36 miles one way to work. 45-47 MPH last round trip from NY to FL with the distance pacing cruise control set at 80 MPH, spending most of the trip at about 75.
They don’t like hybrids as they still use gas. Instead, they want all of us stuck at chargers burning through electricity generated by fossil fuels.
When the family called the police, the police said they could do nothing because it is not illegal for a non-EV to occupy a charging station in Georgia.
It’s not illegal, but it is being an a%^&*hole – as directed by one of our top Democrats. When a politician sends their staff out to cr$p on the little people, it’s usually a Democrat.
This is hysterical. If the Granholm can’t make it work, then what hope does anyone else have? I would have been much more impressed if Granholm had just admitted that the system is broken and then laid out some plan to fix the problem. But some lame…”18 months’ pulled out of the air isn’t a plan.
EVs remain a fun toy for wealthy people. And the tax incentives? Basically we’re taxing middle class Americans so that upper class Americans can feel good about themselves.
I still don’t see anyone hauling 20 head of cranky cattle anywhere in Texas on a 120 degree day….. just saying!
And as for that gas vehicle in front of the charging stations…. well, now they know how us diesel drivers feel when they see a Tesla parked in front of our only pump while the owner gets a latte!
EV might make sense for a second vehicle or for an urban dweller with infrequent or very short driving distances. When venturing out away from home at distances of 100 miles+ and away from east or west coast population centers then it seems that things get dicey for EVs.
Hybrids make far more sense for those with emissions concerns but this notion that EV are ‘clean’ or non polluting is Cray Cray. Folks pushing that falsehood are either liars who know better or ignorant and don’t know the facts. Electricity has to be generated and for now that’s with Nat gas and coal with some nuke and hydro in the mix depending on location. Not to mention sourcing the EV components isn’t exactly environmentally friendly at present.
Why make any concessions to the climate change scammers? CO2 is plant food, not a pollutant. How many trillions OF MONEY LOOTED FROM TAXPAYERS has been thrown away by pushing this scam under color of law?
CommoChief is correct.
If the commute to your jobsite is short enough to allow you to travel without having to stop to recharge, then it seems reasonable as your daily driver.
Similarly, fleet vehicles such as USPS letter carrier cars that can successfully navigate the full route on one charge seems reasonable.
However, the first thing that must happen is that the subsidies stop. Let Adam Smith’s ‘Invisible Hand’ do its work.
The second thing that must happen if the pols really want EVs is that the US must encourage a massive nuclear power infrastructure program. The thermodynamics that underly powering vehicles with electricity as opposed to internal combustion is such that a great deal more fossil fuels must be burned to generate electricity in sufficient amounts to achieve an equivalent amount of power to move your car down the road. Without nuclear power, the push towards EVs is actually counter-productive, in the sense that more fossil fuels will be burned than otherwise. Any effort to push EVs that is not conjoined with a nuclear power infrastructure effort is a hoax.
Erronius
“It’s not illegal for a [gas] vehicle to claim a charging spot….” But it was a sleazy move to push “the peasants” aside so their DC overlord betters could get first priority. The “it’s not illegal” excuse is a common cover-up for politicians—especially Democrats, all the way up to Prez Dullard. But that excuse implies normal Americans are too stupid to see the huge gap between what’s illegal and what’s morally wrong.
To NPR’s credit, they reported the facts from this propaganza:
https://www.npr.org/2023/09/10/1187224861/electric-vehicles-evs-cars-chargers-charging-energy-secretary-jennifer-granholm