h/t Dr. Willie Soon; Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm’s 4 day EV celebration road trip backfired, after the Sheriff was called by a young family desperate to get their baby home.
Electric cars have a road trip problem, even for the secretary of energy
September 10, 20236:00 AM ET
…
Granholm’s trip through the southeast, from Charlotte, N.C., to Memphis, Tenn., was intended to draw attention to the billions of dollars the White House is pouring into green energy and clean cars. The administration’s ambitious energy agenda, if successful, could significantly cut U.S. emissions and reshape Americans’ lives in fundamental ways, including by putting many more people in electric vehicles.
…
But between stops, Granholm’s entourage at times had to grapple with the limitations of the present. Like when her caravan of EVs — including a luxury Cadillac Lyriq, a hefty Ford F-150 and an affordable Bolt electric utility vehicle — was planning to fast-charge in Grovetown, a suburb of Augusta, Georgia.
Her advance team realized there weren’t going to be enough plugs to go around. One of the station’s four chargers was broken, and others were occupied. So an Energy Department staffer tried parking a nonelectric vehicle by one of those working chargers to reserve a spot for the approaching secretary of energy.
That did not go down well: a regular gas-powered car blocking the only free spot for a charger?
In fact, a family that was boxed out — on a sweltering day, with a baby in the vehicle — was so upset they decided to get the authorities involved: They called the police.
The sheriff’s office couldn’t do anything. It’s not illegal for a non-EV to claim a charging spot in Georgia. Energy Department staff scrambled to smooth over the situation, including sending other vehicles to slower chargers, until both the frustrated family and the secretary had room to charge.
…
Read more: https://www.npr.org/2023/09/10/1187224861/electric-vehicles-evs-cars-chargers-charging-energy-secretary-jennifer-granholm
How heartless. Can any of you imagine keeping a young family and baby waiting in the sweltering heat? I can’t count the number of times when I waved mum and kids ahead at a supermarket checkout line, especially if the kids are in any kind of distress.
If only there was a way to recharge vehicles quickly. Then there would be no reason for people to get distressed and block each other while fighting over a handful of charging spots, they could just recharge their vehicle quickly and drive off, with minimal delay and inconvenience to other motorists.
This phony excuse for a Secretary of Energy is a pompous, clueless, energy ignorant, incompetent Biden appointment that needs to be gone as soon as possible.
NPR also needs to get their terminology correct. Parking an internal combustion vehicle in a EV charging spot would be termed “Getting ICEd Out”
Don’t hold it in Larry, tell us what you really feel.
I think she’s a lying dog faced pony soldier.
Actually I think the correct translation of that phrase is:
Lying dog faced pony soldier = climate sceptic = real scientist
Easy now. The political class is strongly supported by the general population. Apparently.
But why has this young family an EV ? They know this can lead to this kind of problems. They could have had 10 EVs waiting for that same charging punt. Sorry but this young family is part of the problem.
Maybe this young family even voted to get Biden in power. If you are stupid enough to buy an EV.
And now they know how much power and to whom it will go under Brandon.
You are being far too kind to her. But you obviously have more compassion, empathy and common sense than anyone occupying a seat in Biden’s administration.
BEV are a novelty which are rather useless for any meaningful travel. Unless you intend to use them for commuting, they offer no advantage whatsoever to the average consumer. This entire narrative is idiotic. I would not have one if the government handed me a $50,000 tax credit. Given the miserable outcomes with this dumb green energy narrative in GB, Germany and Australia should have been a red flag and a guide for our stupid political class. Unfortunately, you cannot fix stupid or the delusional state of mind.
There are several EVs well under $50K. It might make sense to take the free money.
But then one has to put up with the charging hassles.
But that said, I won’t mind the free EV – work is only 10 minutes away and downhill most of the way, so even with an old Nissan Leaf it could charge overnight and use regenerative braking charging to get to work. Getting back home shouldn’t be too much of an adventure.
No one said he had to keep it. Just take the $50,000 to buy a $30,000 EV. Pocket the $20,000 difference. Then sell the EV for whatever you can get. Even if you end up taking a loss on the resale, you are still way ahead on the whole transaction.
That’s what I was thinking. And if you got lucky, someone might steal it or it’s totaled by fire (away from home), assuming it’s insured.
Now that is what I call a sound deal. Great option Mark. Sadly our lot of ‘two faced rather than dog faced politicians have a slightly more normal revenue mindset.
Here in the UK they will charge you $50,000 for not having an electric car. They will call it ULEZ policy and get the Green dog faced pony soldiers to support it.
Yeah but (1) then you have to find a sucker to buy the worse-than-useless EV; and (2) the government would likely play the “if you don’t keep the [worse-than-useless] EV, your tax credit gets “revoked” game.
There is no end of suckers.
Luxury powered shopping carts. To use them for any other purpose is insane.
Some of them appear to make good fire starters.
That’s funny
Yeah they’ll have to add that to Boy Scout training…”If you have no matches, flint stones or sticks to rub together, find a BEV and kick the undercarriage repeatedly.”
It’s not our “stupid political class.” It’s our devious and underhanded political class. They can’t make enough revenue from people buying the things they need and want. They now have to force people to buy more than they can afford and things they don’t want or need just to make enough revenue to keep up the debt payments. The pyramid scheme is collapsing as it always does eventually.
Most days I don’t drive at all. Most days that I do drive I drive about 3 miles. I see a family taking their kids to school with a golf cart. Maybe I should get one of those.
But when I do drive a significant distance, I tend to drive 500 or more miles in a day probably 20 times a year. So an EV doesn’t satisfy my needs in and of itself, but when our car is done it will probably make sense to buy an EV to have as a second car that gets driven most days, while our truck serves for long distance travel.
Obviously having two cars isn’t something a lower income family can do.
First they created a special class of vehicle users with access to carpool lanes and reduced registration fees and no excise taxes for road use. Then they created an even “specialer” class for themselves for access to resources and the mobility they represent. A society of tiered privilege is not one I can support.
If one looks up the definition of “poser” in a current urban dictionary, you’ll see the photo at the top of article along with the text description.
gotta mean this one – it’s just sooooo awful
the original at Getty copied by NPR
The US Secretary of Energy was temporarily stunned today when an unexpected thought suddenly entered her very tiny mind.
She burst out laughing one time when a reporter asked her if there was anything she could do to increase oil production and reduce gasoline prices.
She is not a serious person.
She certainly shouldn’t be running the Energy Department. But, as long as Biden is president, it won’t matter who runs the Energy Department, they will do the bidding of Joe Biden, which is to go to war against oil, coal and natural gas.
If you ask me, Secretary Granholm’s entourage should have been redirected to the “Slow Chargers” since hers was clearly a political stunt.
It could have been worse for the young family. It could have been VP Harris at the scene or climate bully Kerry or FBI Director. They would have sanitized the scene and whisked away the alleged family as a national security issue.
The above article invites the question: When Granholm’s publicity caravan reached Grovetown, GA, had it been 60, or instead 80, miles since they last stopped to charge up the EVs?
The Admin spin will be that this shows that we need to ‘jump on the bandwagon; invest in electric (of all kinds), including charging stations; there is a great demand for EV use in this country; and the major infrastructure bill that was passed was a great service to the country; and that Granholm ended up sharing the EV station that she and her staff tried to kidnap/hi-jack, so she is nice.
(In high school I had a portable ‘no parking’ sign in the back of my truck that I would use to save my space when I wanted to. It was amazing to see people start to park and then, without thinking, back up and go somewhere else when it was absolutely obvious that a portable no parking sign was located in such ridiculous place. If I was in high school today, I would be probably be putting ‘out of order signs’ on the EV chargers, just for fun.)
In other words, you’re a douchebag.
high school was a long time ago.
I’ll rephrase it for you: If there were EV chargers when I was in high school, I might have put ‘out of order’ signs on them…. If I was alert enough to know that the typical/majority EV owners’ are like Granholm, I probably would have had fun with the signs:
‘out of order – service scheduled for xx-xx-2023’
‘call Albert Jeffries (xxx-xxx-xxxx) for further information’
Jennifer Granholm. A lawyer and politician. This is the best this administration can do for Secretary of Energy? Seems expertise in Energy is among the least considerations for this cabinet.
Wasn’t she once the Governor of Michigan? Things here haven’t improved, now we have Gretchen, who may replace Joe on the 2024 ticket….we’re doomed…..
Yes, there are a lot of horrible choices among the Democrats, and not one good one. That’s why I never vote for Democrats.
Secretary of Energy’s primary responsibility is the the security of our nuclear weapons. Expertise in energy is pointless.
Electric comeuppance, I say. To the Song of Music or perhaps Wizard of Oz soundtrack, one must show lovely green hillsides, perky blond bombshells, and happy families. Off-screen, there’s a big black truck that has a 250 kW Cummings Diesel generator in the back, and 250 gallons of fuel. A big snaky line runs from it to a half dozen green vehicles. DONE! Sound of Oz preserved. Do not think about the Man behind the Curtain.
Oops, “Sound of Music”.
Change the lyrics to “the Hill is alive with the sound of bull shit” or something to that effect…
It’s no longer a man behind the curtain; it’s expanded to an entire culture.
Another example of a government hack forgetting whom they work for
Oh, I’m sure she knows exactly what lobbyist she works for.
I wish I could remember who it was, and what the exact quote was.
During one of the football strikes, a reporter mentioned to one of the players that the fans didn’t want them to go on strike.
The player responded that he didn’t care how the fans felt, because they didn’t sign his paychecks.
This is a “person” who brags about having 3 abortions, clearly is mentally unstable and is running a USW Federal Agency. And people cannot figure out what is wrong with our society?
Unless there is some breakthru (Toyota claimed one very recently but there are no technical details publicly available and no patent applications yet published—I spent hours looking out of curiosity) there will never be ‘fast’ charging like maybe a 2x gasoline pumping equivalent. Do the Tesla ‘rapid charge’ using their Super Chargers (~20 minutes depending on from how low to how high) too frequently and the battery warranty is automatically voided. Indelible record is baked into the car electronics.
The reason is basic LiIon electrochemistry. Above some temp threshold (say 40C), every repeat charge at +10C higher shortens cell life by about half. Physically has to do with more rapid buildup of the inert SEI layer on the carbon anode. Mathematically a consequence of the fundamental Nernst equation. Battery performance is a ‘Goldilocks’ function of temp: cold bad, hot bad. The battery has a designed heat removal system (Tesla is water cooled with a radiator). Rapid charging heat exceeds the system design for mostly slow charge/discharge heat removal. Bigger radiator and water pump won’t help because of intrinsic battery cell internal thermal mass. So do more than a little Tesla rapid charging, cycle life gets shortened, warranty automatically voided.
BTW, the new larger Tesla cell format cuts cost but increases the supercharger warranty problem because of higher cell thermal inertia.
Stuff Tesla doesn’t tell customers when it solves their range anxiety by sprinkling Superchargers around the country.
Not that ESec Granholm is capable of understanding any of this even tho that is supposedly her job.
It might be better if the cars weren’t collecting detailed information on the drivers through the websites and the cars themselves. Also not sure if the Tesla camera system is also present in other cars but it has already led to numerous cases of Tesla employees sharing ‘interesting’ videos from the cars.
https://www.reuters.com/technology/tesla-workers-shared-sensitive-images-recorded-by-customer-cars-2023-04-06/
An older story but recently renewed with the ‘World University Games‘
“”The Chinese military has banned Tesla cars from entering its complexes, citing security concerns over cameras installed on the vehicles, two people who have seen notices of the directive told Reuters.
And any member of ‘Chinese military’ is completely banned from ever owing a Tesla..
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tesla-china-idUSKBN2BB18R
https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-china-security-threat-university-games/
I suspect some cameras are well hidden/camouflaged to prevent car “owner’s” interference
https://gizmodo.com/mozilla-new-cars-data-privacy-report-1850805416
Your PC I Phone Smart Meter Plastic Money Street Cameras Direct Taxes etc etc are all collecting detailed information on you. Never think you live in a free country. You are less than a slave just a number and number have no rights.
I heard the Toyota breakthrough uses a solid state sodium ion chemistry, thus is much less expensive and less prone to ignition. Another advantage is it being more forgiving in charge cycling. A drawback is lower capacity.
According to the IEA SUVs accounted for over half of all EV sales in 2022 and they require larger batteries to power them. So while sodium-ion may become mainstream the upmarket vehicles will stick with lithium-ion.
And the Search for the Magic Battery continues…
A fast charger is already 400 KVA
Half the charge time double the power requirents where does this end 10,000 KVA per charger times say 20 chargers Mega power requirement and current
What grid supplier is going to have the network to support that
The engineering elegant solution is for each fast charger complex to have its own SMR so it doesn’t draw from the grid. In the Southern US there’s a gas station chain called Buc’ees that are almost self contained villages.
Paste “nuclear powered” with an atomic logo on every charger and watch green heads explode.
Even putting ‘100% fossil fuelled’ on each one would be good – lets see them charge up after that!
Yes. In many places “coal powered” would be the truth.
My favorite recent picture (I think from UK) was a cluster of maybe 10 rural EV charging stations, behind which in a opaque fenced off enclosure were the diesel gensets powering them as the grid was too weak for the extra EV load, and gensets were cheaper than enhancing the grid to that location.
I’d be willing to bet that the picture was from the Glastonbury festival – that setup sounds just like the virtue-signalling idjits.
Yes that is a common solution adopted here in the Saudi Arabia of wind Kingdom.
The best most telling example was a diesel generator photographed and reported at the COP 26 in Glasgow. There the gen set was recharging the oh so virtuous electric battery powered taxis brought in to get the Green delegates/ COP people around.
So, “might makes right” down at the charging station? That’s good to know.
/sarc
To those on the left, might only makes right, when they are the ones with the power.
When they aren’t the ones with the power, just listen to the leftists whine about the evils of forcing people to do things they don’t want to do.
Saw this earlier today, another sign of the green raw deal turning sour.
In the South Dakota speech this weekend, DJT excoriated the Creepy Joe Gropem for his insane idea of turning U.S. military vehicles (of all kinds) into battery bombs.
Well, on the bright side, the next admin could just stick fins on them and drop them on the enemy.
There is a way to recharge vehicles quickly, Pull up to the pump and fill it up.
What were her “advance team” driving.?
Sounds like it was NOT evs.
How much fossil fuel was used by her and her “entourage” on this road trip ?
According to the article, the car parked in front of the charging station and blocking it, was an ICE.
SHHHsss!
The ICE vehicles were carefully kept out of camera and MSM range until this boondoggle.
So, to go on a trip of any distance, you need an “advance team” of ICE vehicles to block EV charging outlets, before you arrive.
Ok.. sounds workable. 😉
What I want to know is why a young family had an EV.
The purpose of owning EV is to tell people you have EV. That goes for many cars.
The last new car I bought was a 2007 Corolla. Because my research showed it was economical and reliable. That has been my experience. My son is still driving it.
Maybe the goverment should mandate a warning sticker on EV to prevent young families from being desperate.
You mean; “Warning. Jennifer Granholm WILL p!$s you off!”
I have a hard time imagining that anyone would willingly strap a baby or toddler into an EV. Able bodied adults seem to be able to get out quickly enough to avoid being cremated alive, but imagine trying to unbuckle a kid if the vehicle catches fire. We are always told that ICE vehicles catch on fire more often (which is true) but they don’t blow up in a heartbeat like in the movies, and you have more time to get out and away from the vehicle.
To drive around in an EV with a baby when you know there can by many EVs waiting for that same charger. But maybe they thought they belonged to that EV elite too (saving the planet). They may even have voted Biden.
If they as a young family can buy a vehicle I can not afford they maybe thought they belonged to that EV elite too (saving the planet). Maybe they learned a lesson and vote different next time and buy a gasoline or hybrid car for longer trips.
So Granholm has now just experienced the “Striesand Effect”
Slow learners these “progressives”.
Rud was on to something that I have been pondering for awhile. At some point I don’t care what materials one uses to make the “battery”- if you try to put a given amount of electrical energy into it to quickly the “ battery” becomes just a big “ heating element.” like my old fashion heat plate.
The batteries have some pretty crazy cooling systems to try to deal with this, and can limit the charge rate if necessary to keep the temperature within safe limits. But no system is perfect – one possible explanation for why EVs are so vulnerable to fender benders is even a slight ding can mess up the cooling system.
So, bottom line, they are not yet ready for “prime time”?
(Just like a grip powered by wind and solar.)
Another take away is that this is a perfect example of how the elite view themselves vis-a-vis the rest of us. Granholm is too important to wait in line, instead she is forcing everyone else to lose hours so that she can save a few minutes.
Remember that these young people drive an EV too. To drive around in an EV with a baby you know there can by many EVs waiting for that same charger. But maybe they thought they belonged to that EV elite too (saving the planet).
An EV is the embodiment of the lack of common sense among the elitist and the Government pushers of a product that only enticing subsidies could ever bring to market. The auto manufacturers are also in the game of reaping money from the Government, otherwise no sane, legitimate corporate leader would encourage or invest in EV’s for a market based in capitalism.
The “new capitalism” is having the government take away your choices until you have to buy the only thing left in the “free” market. Think incandescent light bulbs, gas powered lawn equipment, ICE cars and trucks, natural gas appliances…and so on. It’s sort of the opposite of a monopoly because the government is making sure it makes all the money from the one thing you’re allowed to purchase. We’re getting awfully close to “you’ll own nothing, and be happy.”
Apropos charging times and battery cooling systems.
I just read that the better level 3 charges can charge 80% in about 30 to 45 minutes, depending on size of battery, design of car, type of charger, and temperature. Not bad, but certainly about 6x longer, at least, than an ICE. Try having 50% EV’s on July 4th weekend on the Jersey Turnpike.
That 30 minute stop will be at least two hours.
The cost for fast charging is about 3 or more times costly than charging at home.
And, according to NPR, even though the US govt hates Tesla, the best charging network is Musk’s. By far.
And, they are claiming that fast charging is not a big factor in battery degradation, but, who knows.
Personal story about batteries in a hybrid: My Pacifica van got recalled at the four year mark for a risk of battery fire. Got a new battery. Soon thereafter, I got a warning light signalling to check hybrid vehicle. The problem was the coolant in the battery cooling system was low. The techs said that when you change out the battery, if you don’t flush out the system, you get air pockets in the battery. This problem of falling coolant without external leak persisted off and on for several months. I had to buy coolant and keep it topped up. I added perhaps a quart of coolant, no more. The problem has recurred for the last couple of months, so hopefully all the air pockets are gone.
Now, think about it. If there are air pockets in the battery cooling system, that can only mean that the battery is not being properly cooled. I wonder if that could cause fires or pre-mature battery aging.
Her response to poor people when gas went over $3? Buy a $50,000 EV! Jennifer Granholm is the Marie Antoinette of energy secretaries.
There are fines up to A$3,200 for ‘ICE-ing’ in Oz
Drivers face steep fines for parking non-electric vehicles in electric vehicle charging stations
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-15/drivers-steep-fines-iceing-electric-vehicle-charging-stations/102102554
“they could just recharge their vehicle quickly“
This looks like disinformation to me
I think there is a (slightly) hidden reference to ICE options.
I used to think that the Evil (Democrat) Party just had politicians fail up (see: Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, John Kerry, and a thousand others). But Granholm, formerly the worst governor in America during her ineptitude in office, has proven beyond any doubt that what really matters is how effective you are in furthering the grift.
It really has become a circus in the Democrat Party.
Roll up roll up, see the bearded lady, be amazed at the dogs riding ponies, watch the memory man recite the whole of a sentence unaided…..etc.
This point may have been made already so forgive me if I repeat an earlier comment.
As the Sherriff has now confirmed there is no law preventing an ICE vehicle parking in an EV charging spot, I suspect a few ‘activists’ might decide to indulge in blocking the EV chargers by legally parking their ICE truck there.
Just saying.
No need to go out of our way to inconvenience EV owners, people don’t deserve to be punished for making a bad purchase choice. I feel sorry for the young family, sometimes life serves us some hard lessons.
There may be no “need” to go out of your way, but it’s fun.
“Granholm’s trip through the southeast, from Charlotte, N.C., to Memphis, Tenn., was intended to draw attention to the billions of dollars the White House is pouring into green energy and clean cars.”
Clean car? Too lazy to say electric vehicle?
No it’s a clean car because the flunkeys wash and wax it every evening 🙂
“The administration’s ambitious energy agenda, if successful, could significantly cut U.S. emissions and reshape Americans’ lives in fundamental ways…”
The Constitution doesn’t give the government the right to reshape American lives- especially in “fundamental ways”.
The Constitution doesn’t give the government the right
not that it matters anymore.
The real issue here is that today, those elected to high office or appointed to senior civil service roles no longer see themselves as servants of the people, but as our rulers and in their arrogant, inflated senses of importance and entitlement, and impunity from accountability for even the most grievous failures and incompetence, see themselves as entitled to virtually monarchial levels of privilege over the rest of us mere commoners.
And that is why they (and the embedded journalist who wrote the report) felt entitled to block an available charger, saw nothing wrong in having done so and are not reported to have offered any apology..
I think you are being very unfair! How else can an EV driver guarantee charging their car?
Kite, key, lightning. Just sayin’.
Jennifer can come to my hometown. We have four EV chargers here at one location, and although I don’t drive by them every day, every time I do drive by them they are empty. I have never seen an EV parked there getting juiced up.
I don’t think we have many EV’s around here. I saw my first Tesla just the other day.
Why does “Try that in a small town” come to mind?
“How heartless.” No. They trying to push this virtue signalling BS onto everyone else as well, putting everyone in danger. Let them feel the pain and maybe they will wake up. If not , Darwin awards are available to merit worthy cases.
Wow, she looks like a right bitch. Just sayin. Judging by appearances an’ all.
Why did they have to park an ICE vehicle in the spot if her entourage was made up of EVs?
(Just park one of their other EVs in the spot.)
Where did they get an ICE vehicle if the entourage was really made up of EVs?
Was this trip virtue signaling, a PR stunt or both?
This is the same idiot Secretary of Energy who in March of this year made the colossally incompetent statement that the U.S. could “learn” how to address “climate change” by doing what China is doing.
China the country that has more than twice the CO2 emissions than the U.S. and consumes 56% of the world’s coal with that number still climbing while getting less than 5% of its total energy from wind and solar.
See https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/03/13/bidens-secretary-of-energy-says-u-s-can-learn-from-china-on-climate-change/
One might wonder just how many gasoline and diesel vehicles were required to support the convoy, and what were the ratios of fuel/electric miles covered and personnel transported.
Considering the makeup of the electrical production mix along those Southern states, someone could probablycalculate the average amount of work done, per passenger mile, by coal, petroleum, natural gas, and “renewab;e” and get a pretty good idea of what the actual cost was in CO2. Even though this was a stunt, analysis is potentially quite revealing to the real operations cost of EVs vs self-powered vehicles, in terms of carbon and in terms of passenger time over distance.
These comments sound like a bunch of horse traders moaning about the iron version a hundred years ago. Electric cars are a great idea. It’s the batteries that suck. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slot_car
No. Electric cars are a “great idea” when you have plenty of cheap and readily available electricity — once you’ve solved the battery problem of child labor and environmental degradation. Fixed it for you.
It seems the offending ICE vehicle identifies as electric.
Right on cue when questioned about the EV trip debacle this clueless Secretary of Energy threw her staff under the bus blaming them for how they handled the trips planning and execution. What a surprise – not.
BCAA has just announced they are adding F150 EV’s to their fleet.
I replied to the email asking them how the Lightning will tow my 9000 lb F250.