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!”

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.

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”?

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?

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?

A Tale of Two Hummers: It Was the Worst of EVs, It Was the Best of EVs…

If I told you the Hummer EV was less efficient and produced more greenhouse emissions than a Tesla Model 3, would you be surprised?

If I told you the Hummer EV was less efficient and produced more greenhouse emissions than a gasoline powered Chevy Malibu, would you be surprised?

Today, we look at what probably started out as a cautionary tale that all EVs are not created equally, but that should come as no surprise. There is no equality between internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles either. So how is this even a story?

The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) posted a report showing that the Hummer EV produced more CO2 per mile than a Chevy Malibu when charged on a “dirty grid” with the headline: 9,000-Pound Electric Hummer Shows We Can’t Ignore Efficiency of EVs. Motor1.com took the same report and offered this headline: New Hummer EV Produces More Emissions Than A Gas Powered Sedan. We follow this up six months later with: Biden is touting giant EVs. Are they actually good for the planet?

Same report. Same story. But the headlines paint a different picture. In our opinion, it seems one is pointing out not all EVs are helping climate change. One is just an attention grabber. And one is supporting a narrative… sort of.

Due diligence is required to navigate any content published these days. This assumes that one makes it past the headline and reads the article. Most people just form an opinion based on the headline and the first few paragraphs but one has to ask, “Does it make sense? What are the motives of the creator? How does this fit my world-view?”

Enjoy and let us know what you think.

TESCO Shrugged Part 1

A grocery chain in the United Kingdom, Tesco, is pulling thousands of FREE public chargers from several of its locations because of the rising cost of energy. The plan is to eliminate 2,147 FREE ports which is a 38% reduction of the FREE charging available at 600 locations in the UK. That is a 5% drop in the OVERALL public infrastructure in Great Britain.

It sounds to us like Tesco is WalMart with a British accent and we know WalMart hosts several ElectrifyAmerica locations… but they are by no means FREE. Should they be?

Seriously, if WalMart is dedicated to the environment, should we expect free charging? Subsidized charging? How about Volkswagen? IKEA, North America? The US Government?

In America, we have a 1 TRILLION dollar infrastructure spending bill in place with $7.5 BILLION set for public charging. The question is, who is paying for this and who SHOULD be paying for this?

You know we are just guys talking, but let us set aside the mandates and the climate for a moment and discuss the role corporate America should play, the government should play , and each of us will play as EV adoption increases. Enjoy part one of our discussion.

Have You Experienced Buyers Remorse?

Have you ever bought something that didn’t really live up to the hype? I know I have.

There is a YouTube channel called Jetters Garage and our attention was directed to a video entitled “Ford Watched My Viral Lightning Video – Amazing What They Said” which was a follow up to a video entitled “Why I regret buying a Ford Lightning! (EV Electric Truck)“. Jet is not new to EVs, having owned a Tesla Model S for seven years in San Diego, California.

That is a click-bait title if ever I’ve seen one, and I admittedly fall for click-bait often, but I was intrigued and started with the first video. Jet outlines the pros and cons of his new 2023 F-150 Lightning in the video and reveals his experience on a recent road trip. (At the time of this post, the video is 2 months old with 571K views.) His observations are interesting, yet not unexpected, regarding a newly introduced car model. These videos are must-see if you’re considering purchasing an F-150 Lightning.

This brings us to our discussion of his videos and his experience in general. Brent and Ben discuss some of their perceptions of living in southeastern Kentucky (SeKY) versus SoCal. We talk ownership, charging in public, and electric rates, including time of use (TOU) and why it makes sense there and not here.

Does Jet’s experience differ greatly from someone in small-town America? Listen to our opinion and feel free to weigh in with your own.

PS: Link to third video.

Rappahannock Part 4: The Zack Morris Phone

As we wrap up (finally) our discussion of the Rappahannock Electric Cooperative’s presentation of the future of EV adoption in northern Virginia, we start looking at how we think EV adoption would look in small-town Kentucky. Rappahannock developed three scenarios where, on the high end, 30% of all cars in their territory were electric by 2030. On the low end, 5% and the middle ground was 10%. Based on several factors, Brent and Ben have differing opinions, but then Ben plays the ever popular “Zack Morris phone” card.

On the TV series Saved By The Bell, Zack Morris (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) used a Motorola DynaTAC, which was the first commercially available mobile phone circa 1984. This “brick” was literally 10-inches long not counting its rubber antenna, weighed 2.5 lbs., and cost $4000. Back then, you would have been crazy to have suggested in 30 years that almost everyone in the world would have a mobile phone in their pocket. The idea was inconceivable.

Are we on the precipice of such a change with EVs? It’s difficult to imagine 3 out of every 10 cars on the road being electric, much less 7 or 8 out of 10. There are forces at work to push 100% adoption, but will we ever get there? Just as the iPhone revolutionized the industry, what will make EVs as common as cell phones?

Also, RECs calculations on the cost to drive an EV support our own (R)EVD conclusions, but we could have told you we were right… we just don’t like to brag.