https://www.tallahassee.com/story/life/causes/2019/06/17/road-trip-future-already-here-electric-vehicles/1458148001/ Road trip of the future is already here with electric vehicles June 17, 2019 Mike Mitchell
[image https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2019/06/14/PTAL/7ad6301f-0405-4421-8d55-74b6c4699887-EV-Road-Photo.jpg Driving on Auto Pilot From Tallahassee to Washington D.C. in a Tesla Model 3 (Photo: Special to the Democrat) ] There are few things more all-American than the summer road trip. Whether it’s to the beach, a grandparent’s house, or one of our beautiful national parks, a recent AAA Travel Survey found that nearly 100 million Americans plan to embark on a family vacation in 2019, with 53% planning to drive. One of the most common questions I get about electric vehicles (EVs) is about their ability to take the family on this kind of long-distance trip. The common perception is that EVs are in-town cars only, having a driving range limited to less than 100 miles, while recharging is slow and charging stations few and far between. But with recent advances in EV range, combined with rapid growth in charging infrastructure, EVs are now easily capable of long-distance travel. For example, many new EVs have driving ranges well above 200 miles. These include the Chevy Bolt (238 miles), the Kia e-Niro (283 miles), the Hyundai Kona (292 miles), and of course the Tesla Model 3 (310 miles), Model X (325 miles), and Model S (370 miles). At the same time there are more charging stations than ever — especially “fast charging” stations that use high voltage, direct current electricity, allowing EVs to recharge in less than an hour. According to the Department of Energy, we now have 21,671 total charging stations in the U.S., of which over 2,800 are fast charging stations. We have three of these fast charging stations right here in Tallahassee — a Tesla Supercharger and Electrify America station by the Thomasville Road I-10 exit, and a CHAdeMO fast charging station on Mahan Drive. Other fast chargers are located approximately every 100-150 miles along the Interstates, making over 99% of the US within EV-driving range. Of course, knowing this versus having actually experienced an EV road trip are totally different things. When I volunteered to write a "Greening Our Community" column for Sustainable Tallahassee about EV road trips, the first thing I thought was that I probably needed to experience it myself. So, Memorial Day weekend I drove my all-electric Tesla Model 3 on a 1,700-mile, 34-hour round-trip to Washington D.C. Not only was this trip possible in an EV, but I found it much more enjoyable than the last time when I did it in a gas-powered car. In the Model 3, the on-board navigation automatically plots your route, including which superchargers to stop at, and for how long. I had a total of three charging stops before reaching my hotel, which had its own charging station, and four charging stops on the way home. Each took about 50 minutes, which is just enough time to get something to eat, stretch your legs, and check email and social media. My favorite part: Since electricity is so much less expensive than gas, the entire round trip cost just $56 in charging fees! Superchargers are usually located in the parking lots of shopping malls, restaurants, or hotels, meaning there is easy access to refreshments, facilities, and activities if you don’t want to wait in your car. A word of caution however – while superchargers are available 24/7, the surrounding businesses may close, meaning that driving after 10 p.m. can be less than ideal. For other EVs, fast charging stations are similarly placed in convenient locations. However, you may have to develop your own charging plan if the vehicle doesn’t have on-board navigation. There are several online options, including mobile apps, but my favorite is ABetterRoutePlanner.com which allows you to set waypoints in addition to destinations. Finally, as exciting as EV road trips are, the most revolutionary part of my trip was using Tesla’s Auto Pilot. This (mostly) self-driving feature allows the car to stay in a lane, keep distance from other vehicles, and even change lanes and take interchanges and on/off ramps completely on its own. While the driver must remain alert and monitor the road, Auto Pilot significantly reduces the mental burden of driving, to the point where I’d rather drive 17 hours with it, than 4 hours without. This was the first time I’d used this feature on a road trip, and it was absolutely like being in the future. But that’s a topic for a later column. Mike Mitchell is Vice President of Sustainable Tallahassee, a member of Sustainable Tallahassee's Electric Vehicle Club, and a graduate student at Florida State University, researching EV adoption. He can be reached at fsu.ev.research @gmail.com. This is a “Greening Our Community” article, an initiative of Sustainable Tallahassee. Learn more at www.SustainableTallahassee.org. [© tallahassee.com] + https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Bay-Briefing-Bay-Area-is-plugging-it-in-14001899.php Bay Briefing: Bay Area is plugging it in June 17, 2019 Electric car sales in the Bay Area have surged — from 7% of all new passenger vehicle registrations in 2017 to 13% in 2018 — many of them Teslas ... https://s.hdnux.com/photos/74/40/73/15863509/23/940x0.jpg ... https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2019/06/17/new-study-shows-spike-bay-area-electric-car-sales/ For EVLN EV-newswire posts use: http://evdl.org/archive/ {brucedp.neocities.org} -- Sent from: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/ _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
