1) Why stop 7 times to charge if you’re only driving 600 miles? I drove a 2020 Chevy Bolt EV 750 miles, in the Texas Hill Country, with a kayak on the roof, 2 bikes hanging off the back and 56+ cubic feet of camping gear. Even loaded to the gills like that, I could reliably go 180 miles on a charge. *Note: 2020 Bolt EV gets 259 miles on a charge. Previous model years got 238. I could have done that drive with only two stops to fully charge and one stop for a short charge. In each case, there were restaurants nearby, where the time could be passed by having a meal instead of sitting in the car, looking bored.
2) When comparing the pollution generated by building & operating a gasoline car, was the pollution caused by oil drilling, transporting the oil, refining the oil, transporting the gasoline and the occasional regional devastation of a tanker ship accident (i.e. Exxon Valdez)/ oil rig explosion (i.e. Deepwater Horizon) included?
3) No mention that, as we make our electric grid cleaner, the EV becomes cleaner. A gas-burning car gets dirtier & dirtier as exhaust components, gaskets, piston rings, etc wear out.
4) No mention that most American families have 2 cars, making an EV a perfect choice to replace one of the two, to a) reduce emissions NOW and b) reduce cost per mile driven NOW.
5) Trump did not kill the $7,500 rebate. It is still in effect for all EVs, except for those made by General Motors & Tesla, because those companies’ EVs have already garnered 200,000 rebates, at which point the tax credit started to be phased out (for those two companies only.) Trump killed an extension to the tax credit that would have had the credit end at the same time for all manufacturers, so that the two American pioneers (General Motors & Tesla) aren’t at a competitive disadvantage against foreign imports.
6) The article didn’t mention that Texas has a $2,500 rebate for people who lease or buy a plug-in vehicle, making them even more advantageous to own.
7) No mention that there’s no oil/oil filter, transmission fluid/filter, spark plugs to change. Regenerative braking causes virtually no wear on the brakes, so they may never have to be replaced. Maintenance is virtually non-existent for an EV. No mention that the EPA MPGe efficiency rating is 118 MPGe on the Bolt EV, compared to 19-21 MPG for the average light duty, gasoline-powered pickup.
8 ) The focus of the article seemed to be that a) there aren’t enough chargers yet, so don’t get an EV (even though the VAST majority of charging sessions happen at home or at work, NOT at public chargers), b) there’s something vaguely unmanly about owning an EV that’s not a pickup, c) we all need to be able to drive 600 miles on a regular basis although most of us don’t do that more than once a year and we could take SOME of the savings from driving the EV to rent a gas-powered vehicle, if & when we need to drive 600+ miles.
If the mission was to prevent the public from considering an EV, then mission accomplished. If it was intended to educate the public, it failed miserably.
Hey, WFAA: Next time, consider having someone do a story like this that actually has some subject matter experience.
