White House announces new ‘EV corridors’ to accelerate deployment of electric vehicles

[tinrobot]

The Obama Administration announced today a new series of initiatives to accelerate deployment of electric vehicles and charging infrastructure. The main announcement is the creation of 48 national EV charging corridors on 25,000 miles across 35 states.

The announcement follows another series of initiatives announced earlier this year by the White House to boost electric vehicle adoption in the US by unlocking $4.5 billion in investments.

With the new programs announced today, state and federal agencies will be working together to ensure that each of those corridors will be equipped with enough charging stations to support electric vehicle drivers.

In a press release, the White House said that “drivers can expect either existing or planned charging stations within every 50 miles.”

https://electrek.co/2016/11/03/white-house-ev-corridors-electric-vehicle-charging/

[whatthehey]

1. I've been driving EVs nearly 5 years. I don't get this.

Local EVSEs? Great idea. Highway EVSEs around huge metro areas? Ditto. But the idea that EVSEs spaced for interstate travel will accelerate adoption makes no real sense to me.

My car will do a bit over 200 miles on a charge. Top right now is a bit over 300. The first EV I had did 80-100 depending on speed and heater use.

I don't charge them or use them any differently, other than obviously not charging as often.

Why? Because I'm either driving local commutes with days that almost never exceed the lower range, or driving on long trips in which case driving 200 miles then stopping for an hour (If you have a dedicated supercharger, or several hours if not) before the next leg is only mildly less aggravating than driving 80 and stopping for half an hour before the next leg. In fact I, a dedicated repeat EV buyer, consider them worthless for trips that require recharging. It makes far more sense on occasional long trips to use some of that 10c/mile savings to rent a gas car for the handful of days a year one is needed if you don't have multiple cars. Could I drive coast to coast in my car? Sure, but why on earth would I want to?

[tinrobot]

4. I totally get it. We need to completely replace gas with electric.

The gas car is better for road trips today mainly because there is infrastructure. Gas stations are everywhere. That's why you rent a gas car.

That said, we ultimately need to get off of gasoline. Completely. Including road trips.

A nationwide fast charging network takes us in that direction. No, it won't be perfect at first, and maybe it will take longer initially to charge than fill up, but it represents a stake in the ground for something much, much bigger. Charge times will get faster, the network will expand, and within a decade, people will wonder why they are still buying gasoline. But we have to start now.

A nationwide network speeds adoption. Sure, most people will stick to a 50-mile radius most days, but the ability to hop in the car and do a road trip is a huge selling point. Tesla knows this, and other manufacturers will follow.

The network would also allow people in remote areas to buy EVs. It opens up the interstates to them so they can get to larger cities when needed.

[marybourg]

2. Early adopters, like yourself, of a

new technology live with that technology differently than the large mass of people do.

Electric vehicles will never become the standard unless people can find a charging station every 50 miles.

[nationalize the fed]

3. Of course Electrek didn't mention the fact that hydrogen cars are included

because, for some reason, Electrek hates hydrogen. Maybe, like Cllean Technica, the owner of the site owns TSLA stock. But hey, conflict of interest is so 1970's.

From the Whitehouse page:

Launching the Process to Designate Alternative Fuel Corridors as Part of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act:

Today, the DOT is soliciting nominations from State and local officials to assist in making designations for alternative fuel corridors. Section 1413 of the FAST Act requires that the Secretary of Transportation designates national EV charging, hydrogen, propane, and natural gas fueling corridors, and the nomination process will ensure that the corridors proposed for designation will create a national network of alternative fuel facilities...snip
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/07/21/fact-sheet-obama-administration-announces-federal-and-private-sector

Sites like Electrek and CleanTechnica might just be able to influence a bunch of Musk fans and continue to convince them that hydrogen cars AREN'T Electric cars, but Japan and Germany don't care a bit what these biased websites write. And one day their extremely biased reporting will be widely known.

The next story on the Electrek Website is about yet ANOTHER Tesla lithium fire:

Rare Tesla Model S fire following fatal crash in speeding accident
Fred Lambert - 8 hours ago



Cars catch on fire after severe high-speed impacts. That’s nothing new to Tesla or electric vehicles, but there’s also no doubt that battery fires are different from gas-powered car fires. The latest example comes from a tragic fatal accident in Indianapolis early this morning.

The driver and passenger of a Tesla Model S died after hitting a tree at a reportedly high-speed. The car caught on fire following the accident and was difficult to extinguish according to local firefighters.

Local news interviewed a witness that said the vehicle was “speeding when it lost control at the intersection, crashed into a tree, and caught on fire”...snip

Spokeswoman for the Indianapolis Fire Department, Rita Reith, commented on the fire:

“The car, kind of, for lack of a better term, disintegrated. The debris field is at least 100 yards long. The batteries and the pieces and parts from the Tesla — all which were on fire when firefighters initially arrived.”

It’s the fourth Tesla to catch on fire this year. Another instance happened after an impact on the highway, while the two others happened without any impact. One instance was during a test drive, Tesla said that it was due to ‘electrical connection improperly tightened’ by a human instead of robots, and the other fire without an impact happened while the car was charging at a Supercharger.

Tesla recommends using “large amounts of water” to extinguish a battery fire in its vehicles and to use a thermal imaging camera to monitor the battery for at least one hour after it is found to be completely cooled:

“If the high voltage battery catches fire, is exposed to high heat, or is bent, twisted, cracked, or breached in any way, use large amounts of water to cool the battery. DO NOT extinguish with a small amount of water. Always establish or request an additional water supply.”
https://electrek.co/

Who doesn't travel with "large amounts of water"?

There's a reason the FAA has strict rules about lithium batteries on airplanes

Can you take batteries on a plane?

Spare (uninstalled) lithium ion and lithium metal batteries must be carried in carry-on baggage only. When a carry-on bag is checked at the gate or at planeside, all spare lithium batteries must be removed from the bag and kept with the passenger in the aircraft cabin.

Lithium Batteries Could Spark ‘Catastrophic’ Plane Fires, FAA Warns
http://abcnews.go.com/US/lithium-batteries-spark-catastrophic-plane-fires-faa-warns/story?id=36816040

You don't want to get caught in a lithium battery fire. You have seconds to get away.

[whatthehey]

5. Teslas catch fire at a rate way lower than gas cars

And when the inevitable Chevy Hindenburg hydrogen conflagration happens I wonder how much hydrogen shills will talk about fires then.

[OKIsItJustMe]

6. How do their ages compare?

Last edited Fri Nov 4, 2016, 07:35 PM - Edit history (2)

The average car on the road today is 11½ years old. Clearly the average Tesla is younger than that.

http://www.waltersforensic.com/articles/fire_investigation/vol3-no1.htm

…

Electrical system failures are the second most common cause of vehicle fires. …

Electrical failures are typically more common in older cars. As cars age, contacts loosen, wear and break. As the age of the Tesla fleet increases, and they experience normal wear and tear, we can expect a higher rate of electrical fires.

https://electrek.co/2016/08/15/tesla-model-s-catches-fire-test-drive-france/

[font face=Serif][font size=5]Tesla Model S catches on fire during a test drive in France[/font]

Fred Lambert - 3 months ago

[center][/center]

[font size=3]As part of its ‘Electric Road Trip’ tour for the summer, Tesla stopped in Biarritz, France to promote Model S and Model X over the weekend.

During a test drive in a Model S 90D, the vehicle suddenly made a loud noise and sent a visual alert on the dashboard stating that there was a problem with “charging”. The Tesla employee giving the test drive made the driver park the car on the side of the road and all three (the driver, the Tesla employee and another passenger) exited the vehicle.

The Tesla Model S caught on fire only a moment later (pictured above), according to witnesses.

…

Firefighters arrived quickly on the scene to control the fire, but the vehicle was completely destroyed. The result was reportedly similar to the remains of the Model S that caught fire while Supercharging in Norway earlier this year.

…[/font][/font]

What caused the fire? A loose connection.

https://electrek.co/2016/09/09/tesla-fire-france-electrical-connection-improperly-tightened-human-robot/

[font face=Serif][font size=3]…

Tesla says that the Model S used for the test drive, a 2016 Model S 90D, had “bolted electrical connection” that were manually tightened by a human instead of by robots. The company points to one of those “bolted electrical connections” as being “improperly tightened” which caused the fire.

…[/font][/font]

Will robot tightened connections never loosen? Will Teslas always be serviced by robots?

I suspect that in the long run, electric cars will be prove to be somewhat safer than conventional automobiles, but… it’s too soon to draw that conclusion.

[OKIsItJustMe]

7. Electric Superhighways Can’t Come Soon Enough

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602802/electric-superhighways-cant-come-soon-enough/

[font face=Serif][font size=5]Electric Superhighways Can’t Come Soon Enough[/font]

[font size=4]The White House has a plan to make interstates electric-car friendly, but Americans are still in love with gas-guzzlers.[/font]

by Jamie Condliffe | November 4, 2016

[font size=3]The U.S. government has announced a plan to create 48 national highways that are plentifully dotted with electric vehicle charging points. And boy, do we need them.

The Obama administration has announced that it plans to turn four dozen interstates, totaling almost 25,000 miles of highway, into what it calls “national electric vehicle charging corridors.” That’ll mean that they’re regular roads, but with enough charging points along their length to stop drivers from panicking about getting stranded.

In fact, there will be rather a lot of places to juice up your electric vehicle. “Drivers can expect either existing or planned charging stations within every 50 miles,” a statement released by the White House said. New standardized signs developed by the Federal Highway Administration will guide drivers towards their charge.

A comprehensive charging network is vital to the success of electric cars. Without it, long journeys will remain inconvenient, because the range of even the best all-electric vehicles is today only a little over 300 miles, and that only looks set to rise to 400 miles in the next few years.

…[/font][/font]