Forcing EV's? Do range anxiety! (and recharge times) support #OneMN?

I'm all for adapting to the effects of the climate we've broken and for doing whatever we can to minimize the amount of green house gases we continue to emit into the atmosphere. I'd be much more optimistic about the future of the human race if more governments and corporations read and acted on the Project Drawdown solutions. Instead, once we get away from the deniers and the charlatans, there seem to be many folks who fail to take a look at solutions as part of a system. Today's posting is prompted by the recent announcement of "Clean Cars Minnesota—adopting advanced clean car standards to significantly reduce climate change-causing pollution from Minnesota’s transportation sector."

"The effort would enact California-like strict fuel standards in the state. Under the rules, vehicle manufacturers would be forced to offer more electric vehicles for Minnesota consumers to choose from."

It's the part about "manufacturers forced to offer more electric vehicles" that has me concerned. Maybe we need to let some of the transportation-related road dust settle. Here's an example of why:

climate solutions, in isolation, may just raise dust

Photo by J. Harrington

The distance from our house to Ely, one of our favorite destinations in Northern Minnesota, is about 225 miles. That's more than the range of one popular EV, about equal to the range of another and more than half the range of the remaining examples. So a drive to Ely, that requires about 4+ hours at 50 mph, one way becomes a problem. None of the vehicles listed here has sufficient range to return home without a recharge. According to this comparison, only a Tesla could, at maximum rates, recharge in an hour. Most recharge scenarios would take between 6 and 11 hours. (Reminds me of the waiting lines at gas stations during the oil embargoes of the early 1970s.) So, we're looking at scenarios in which, for most vehicles, the recharging time is equal to or more than the travel time for a day trip excursion. I don't know about you, but that kind of situation would certainly result in a severe cut back in my travel for pleasure, or fishing, or hunting, or other tourist-related travels that have, historically, been day trips. In fact, thinking about weekend trips, local travel by a tourist may well be very limited because the battery needs to be charged.

Now, we could play the chicken and egg game about the need to sell more electric vehicles to support more charging stations. That's part of the system and may be relevant for local travel. But, that's not the scenario we're talking about. Think about this:

• How long did it take to develop a system with the number of gas stations we have?
• How soon can we expect to be able to recharge a battery in about the same time it takes to pump 20 gallons of gas?
• Why does Project Drawdown include a long list of transportation solutions, see below, and not just emphasize Electric Vehicles?

Solutions

Included in the Project Drawdown list are 11 of the most impactful solutions for reducing emissions in the transport sector. The list excludes some solutions that are impactful, but future work of Project Drawdown will include as many other solutions as possible.
Airplanes – increased use of technologies to reduce aircraft fuel burn
Cars – increased use of hybrid cars
Electric bikes – increased use of electric bikes instead of cars for urban travel
Electric vehicles – increased use of battery and plug-in hybrid vehicles
High-speed rail – track construction for increased use of high-speed rail for intercity travel
Mass transit – increased usage of mass transit or public transport to get around cities
Ridesharing – increased ride-sharing when commuting in North America
Ships – the use of technologies to make maritime shipping less fuel-intensive
Telepresence – replacing flying for business meetings with telepresence technologies
Trains – increased electrification of freight railways
Trucks – increased use of fuel reduction technologies and approaches for trucking

As a locavore / localist, I'd love to see better economic development in many parts of greater Minnesota. Several questions remain, among them: are local populations sufficient to support local economies? We've not had enough conversations about that yet, so trapping families at home due to range and recharge limitations doesn't seem to be a very holistic way to solve the climate problem in a way to enhance #OneMN.

[UPDATE: MinnPost article on EVs]

A Mancunian Taxi-driver Foresees His Death

by Michael Symmons Roberts

On a radio show some self-help guru says

the earth will burn out in a hundred years

so treat each day as an eternity.

I am in a taxi when I hear this news,

airport-bound on the flyover

with my home town spread like a map below.

So my driver slams his foot to the floor,

and tells me that when the oil runs out

he will ship this cab to Arizona,

find the last fill-up on the planet,

drain the pump and power out into the wilderness

until the car coughs, then abandon it.

He will take from the dash this shot of his daughters,

his shark’s tooth on its chain,

then leave the radio with an audience

of skulls and vultures. I wind the window down

to catch my breath and ask what kind

of funeral is that? Then him: It’s just a made-up one.

He drops me by the long-haul sign

and I give him a tip well over the odds.

As I stand with my bags it begins to rain.

A man smiles down from a floodlit billboard

- well insured, invested, sound -

which leaves me feeling heartsore, undefended.

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