Tag: electric vehicle

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Road Trip Problems: Don’t You Know Who I Am?

Secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm, set out on a whistle stop tour of the south east to promote EVs and EV adoption recently. Embedded in her caravan was an NPR reporter, who, like Madame Secretary, is a long time EV owner. The four day trip covered several stops for town hall style meetings from Charlotte, North Carolina to Memphis, Tennessee. Everything was business as usual, until a local sheriff department outside of Atlanta was called…

Okay, those are the facts of the story and in this episode, we look at what happened. Basically an over-zealous staffer thought he would do Mrs. Granholm a favor and save a charging port for her by ICE-ing out other people waiting to charge. For us, though, the bigger story is a statement made by the reporter, Camila Domonoske; “EVs that aren’t Teslas have a road trip problem…” This is the setup for a longer exploration of this question on the next episode. Ms. Domonoske makes some valid points and offers topics for consideration.

On a side note, Brietbart had a very different take on the story. In fact, after we recorded, they had three articles by three different people on the same story. None of them were positive toward EVs, once again proving that EVs are very political and have become a hot-button buzzword to activate the fringes of both sides of the political spectrum. From a common sense perspective, EVs are very practical but there is a long way to go before they become the first choice for consumers without any coercion. We think EVs will stand on their own merit once the infrastructure is in place and people can see how practical they really are.

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Those Taxing Questions That Keep Us Up at Night

At 9:30 AM, the meeting started. Brent was attending in person and I remotely from my kitchen. Unbeknownst to me, Brent was supposed to be in the first half and I was supposed to be in the second half of the day long informational session.

These things are typically conducted in a less than artful or entertaining way. After I realized the first half didn’t pertain to me, I excused myself and rejoined after the lunch break. Brent ducked out of the second session where the basis of this episode originated.

I found out a new $ .03 per kWh tax on public charging is coming to Kentucky and wondered what that really means for EV drivers in the state. At first glance, it is designed to offset revenue generated by the $ .28.7 per gallon fuel tax, but does it really?

Unfortunately, my first question (one that any American citizen should be asking on any governmental decision) was what partisan political angle may be hidden in the new law. For the sake of this discussion, let’s assume it is born of pure motives. I think it’s a shame that we have to look at everything through this lens, but healthy skepticism toward all sides of the political spectrum and the media at large has been shown necessary. It’s a fact of human nature that people, most often, will find ways to benefit themselves and what they hold sacred, especially those in power.

Setting that aside, my more practical questions are “does this make sense and how will it impact EV adoption?” In reality, I don’t think this will be the big economic windfall law makers are expecting. They really don’t understand the nature of EV ownership and are approaching this with “gas-pump mentality.” Mathematically the logic is sound but in practicality is flawed.

Another piece of information that came out of this meeting was about the recently proposed EPA rules. The EPA is now tasked with sorting through the millions of comments received during the feedback portion of their proposal and must return with a “modified ruling” that then will become law. The rules, regardless, will impact the reliability, safety, and affordability of electricity in America.

How will this impact EV adoption? Only time will tell, but with all legislation by agency, it’s subject to change with each election cycle.

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So, What Is Your Reason?

Last week we discussed the BMW tweet where they called everyone “boomers”. We found out after the fact that the article was almost two years old but we thought the question they asked was still valid and relevant- “What’s your reason not to change?”

After much thought, the answers to such a question are varied. Perhaps the idea of being an early adopter (yes, it’s still early) seems daunting and you want to see what other people do. Or, maybe, there’s too many things to consider and staying with gasoline or diesel seems the easiest route. It could be you have a tinfoil hat and EVs are just a government conspiracy to control where we go and what we do by forcing us into them and then limiting the energy to use them. (You’re not alone.) Conceivably, you’re not comfortable with change or what it may bring with it. Whatever the reason, it all boils down to FEAR; fear of being first, fear of the unknown, and fear of making a mistake. Sometimes fear is justified, but most often it’s not. It’s an internal dialogue you have with yourself that can blow things out of proportion and cloud your judgement.

I’ve found, as it is often expressed, that the best way to overcome fear is to take action. I’m not saying you should face your concerns by going out and buying a Tesla, but you can start doing research on one. You can investigate available charging networks in your area or talk to your EV owning co-worker. Identify your concern, clearly assess the situation and look at the evidence. I promise you that you are not the first EV owner and seldom is adopting one going to prove fatal. You can always go back to ICE… for now, but that’s another topic for another day.

EVs are coming because change is coming. You can let the change happen or you can control the change. For us the answer is “There is no reason not to change. Bring it on!”

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Screw It! Let’s Go To Buc-ee’s.

An article came to our attention that we thought was recent only to find out that it was from Fall 2020. That being said, it was a good article regarding a marketing campaign that BMW launched to showcase their new EV line up, replacing their previous offerings of the i8 performance hybrid and the i3; both of which are now discontinued.

BMW has 10 years of experience in the EV market place. They also have a history of redesigning their iconic grill to resounding love/hate responses from the brand loyalists. The all electric iX is no exception. Claiming that the predominant grill was inspired by “beaver teeth”, the new design met some resistance. Factor into the fact that BMW took to twitter with “OK, Boomer. And what’s your reason not to change?” to invite potential customers to view the marketing copy on BMW’s website. To say the least, it did not go over well.

The result was some hilarious responses, but mostly it was a lot of angry tweets about the ageism and BMW back-peddling, but offering no real apology. Either way, we think it is a good question to explore and will be a topic for future discussion. For now, enjoy the story and some of the tweets as we look at the article from Autoweek.com.

Who knew social media could be so divisive?

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At 6 Years Old, My BMW is Still A Head Turner…

This episode is just a wrap up of EVolveKY’s EV education event hosted in conjunction with the Laurel County Kiwanis Club. There was a bevy of EVs from A to Z (Nissan Ariya to many other Zero emission vehicles.)

Ben and Brent discuss their impressions and take aways from the event.

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Don’t Say “Lambo” If You’re Not From Wisconsin

It’s the end of an era. Lamborghini, one of the most iconic sports car companies ever, after 60 years of business, has announced they will no longer be making strictly internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. Instead, they will focus on electrifying their fleet starting with the Revuelto plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV). Interestingly enough, Revuelto is a famous Spanish fighting bull, which fits perfectly with their bull logo. Revuelto is also translated from Spanish as “scrambled” or “mixed-up”, which describes the battery-ICE combination. Clever…

In a previous episode, we talked about how Ferrari, a direct competitor to Lamborghini, has no plans of pursuing EVs at this time. Without being mandated, Lamborghini is banking on a market for an $890K plug-in hybrid as a first step in electrification. Will it be accepted?

Brent surprised me (Ben) with this article and the episode is my reaction. I definitely want to do more research on this topic because the idea of high performance hyper-cars is intriguing, but for goodness sake, can we stop saying “Lambo”?

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Are Electric Vehicles Going The Way of the Dinosaur?

EVs are the “in” thing. Most manufacturers are scrambling to get electric models to market. Some are dipping their toe into the water. Some are going full-blown cannonball from the 10 meter platform into the EV pool.

Five or six years ago when I (Ben) began educating myself on EVs, I was part of a focus group organized to chart the future of EV adoption and to craft policies for the cooperatives in Kentucky. The group hosted several members from the nearby Toyota plant in Georgetown, KY who shared (what they could) about what Toyota had in development. At the time, we were told that Toyota was spending BILLIONS on hydrogen fuel-cell technology. Chuckling under my breath, I dismissed the idea because Tesla was becoming the rage and upstarts like Lucid and Polestar were promising new and exciting things.

I am seldom wrong, but Toyota MAY be proving my dismissal a misjudgment. Recently Toyota debuted the Toyota Corolla Cross H2, a hydrogen fuel-cell… INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE car.

WAIT? WHAT? Hydrogen ICE?

With the benefits of range and rapid refueling, will this be a viable replacement for fossil fuel powered transportation and take the place of electric vehicles? Only time will tell, but in home entertainment, we went from VHS to DVD to Netflix. Is this new motor the DVD or the streaming service of the vehicle world? Or is this just the VHS/BetaMax fight waiting for a victor to emerge? (Look it up kids.) Obviously, the gasoline/diesel engines of the past being replaced, but what technology will become the new tradition?

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Tweet Others As You Would Like to be Tweeted

Today, we are discussing Elon Musk. The guy is a freaky genius and looks at the world differently than most. His contribution to the EV world is his legacy (that, and PayPal… SpaceX… etc.), however his controversial take over of Twitter may tarnish the way history will forever look at him.

Like him or hate him, we wouldn’t be as far along as we are if not for Elon. Now, he’s offering his patents like open source code for all who wish to participate in advancing EVs, but will the other manufacturers get on board or will ego stand in the way of progress?

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What If The World Was Made of Legos?

A startup called Ample is working with Fisker to create battery exchange stations for EVs that would rival traditional gas stations in speed and convenience. They can be constructed quickly and may be a better use of taxpayer dollars going toward infrastructure were it not for one thing: A lack of standardization in the EV world.

The automotive industry has standardized many things in the name of safety and service. Many things, like spark plugs, are interchangeable between manufacturers, most supplied by third-party manufacturers supplying the industry. Many things are still proprietary. Why not make batteries interchangeable and boost EV adoption through something easily replaceable?

Battery exchange isn’t necessarily a new idea, but now Ample is working on proof of concept. We think this could be a great way to remove barriers of entry and many concerns people have about EVs. What do you think?

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Is an Asian Witch Hunt Costing Us Better Batteries?

The United States Department of Energy awarded 20 companies government loans totaling $2.8 billion to boost battery production in the United States. Texas-based Microvast was one of those companies and they announced plans to build a $500+ million dollar facility here in Kentucky which would create more than 500 jobs. Kentucky joined the cause offering $21 million in tax incentives to Microvast.

Abruptly, the DOE pulled funding when some congressional Republicans questioned some “improper ties to China”. Now Kentucky is holding off on the tax incentives until Microvast can explain why the DOE acted so quickly.

Our question is: In this global economy, what exactly is an improper tie to China? The US economy and the Chinese economy are so intertwined, how could you tell? This is an American company, founded by an American whose name just happens to be Yang Wu.

Is this really about China or is it posturing against all things Democrat of which EVs seem to be a part?

Again, the (R)EV Diaries feel that EVs are neither Right nor Left and can stand on their own merit. We also think the more companies making batteries, the cheaper they will become, but more importantly, improvements in battery technology will happen faster because more people will be working to solve the current problems and limitation of current batteries.

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