This summer has been HOT! Extreme weather has hit all corners of the globe. Parts of the world are becoming unlivable in the summer. It’s terrifying. It requires serious systematic change from governments, corporations, and individuals. It might also require a little bit of inconvenience and planning. Embrace that! Also, don’t be scared of it. The inconvenience you’re worried about probably isn’t so bad! And maybe – just maybe – that thing you think will be hard and inconvenient will actually maker your life easier.
This week marks one year since my family became an EV family. Cars are way outside of my area of expertise and, frankly, way outside of my area of interest. We own cars simply because where we live necessitates it, but I don’t like cars and I don’t like driving. If I could, I would rely exclusively on walking, biking, and public transportation. But I can’t. So when we found ourselves carless last summer, we went electric.
I was nervous about the inconvenience of it. Filling up at a gas station has been a way of life for me since I started driving. I know that no matter where I’m driving, I’ll be able to find a gas station and never worry about getting to my destination on Empty. I was worried that I would constantly be running out of charge or not sure how or when to charge. But then we thought more about our actual driving needs. More than 95% of our driving over the course of any given year is short distance – my daughter’s school is 7 miles from our house so that 14 mile round trip 2x/day happens daily, but that’s usually just about the furthest we have to go. With a level 2 charger installed at our house – nothing fancy, we just installed a dryer plug – we can easily charge overnight at home. In this first year, I never once worried about charging. I get to a certain distance left on my range (I was never one to run on Empty in a gas car and I don’t get down to just a mile or two in my EV either plus we were told to try to keep the car between 20-80% charge for maximum battery performance and life), and I charge. In the morning, it takes me about 15 extra seconds to unplug.
And for those longer trips? We’ve just learned to plan. Charging on the road takes a little longer than filling up for gas, but it’s not too long. 20 minutes on a level 3/high speed charger can get you a fair bit of distance. We’ve learned to look at charging apps in advance of a trip, find chargers along the route, and make a plan to stop for a snack or a meal while the car is charging. Or, as we did on one ski trip, we looked for a hotel with a charging station and charged at our destination overnight just like we would at home. And as the charging infrastructure expands, the planning will get easier and easier and the already small inconvenience will get even smaller.
So is the EV as convenient as having a gas car? 95% of the time, it’s actually more convenient. I charge at home. I never drive out of my way for a gas station. I never wait in line at the pump. And I never have to get an oil change. And the other 5%? I would say it’s mildly inconvenient. But I would also say that the inconvenience of taking a few extra minutes to plan a lunch stop near a charging station on the road has been so worth it to minimize my overall driving footprint. And for anyone who, unlike me, actually enjoys driving, I’m told that driving an EV is really fun!
Finally, for anyone on the fence or who is concerned about the environmental impact of EVs (no cars are impact-free and the production of EVs is not small), I highly recommend listening to this episode of How To Save A Planet (an amazing podcast that was sadly canceled). The episode compares the impact of EVs and gas cars on different grids, finding that, except on the dirtiest of grids, the EVs are, as I had hoped, the less impactful option from cradle-to-grave.
The Green Ostrich 