Forgiving VW

[bwilson4web]

Drove -68 mi from Huntsville to Manchester TN, all EV to test the 1st day of the 150 kW, CCS, fast DC charger. This means I can drive to Nashville TN in EV all the way and back. Not as fast as on REx nor as cheap, still good practice.

Comments left in PlugShare: $1.00 + $0.30/min.

The longest, empty coal car train I've ever seen. Four pulling and one in the last 1/3d.

Thanks VW the diesel cheater, I forgive you.

Bob Wilson

 

[Calliope]

More forgiving than I am.

 

[David Green]

Drove -68 mi from Huntsville to Manchester TN, all EV to test the 1st day of the 150 kW, CCS, fast DC charger. This means I can drive to Nashville TN in EV all the way and back. Not as fast as on REx nor as cheap, still good practice.

Comments left in PlugShare: $1.00 + $0.30/min.

The longest, empty coal car train I've ever seen. Four pulling and one in the last 1/3d.

Thanks VW the diesel cheater, I forgive you.

Bob Wilson

Oh, you mean Electrify America is coming through in the clutch...? Hmmm...

 

[bwilson4web]

Sorry, my images seem to have disappeared. The ISP I use is having technical difficulties. I've attached the files to this post.

The longest, empty coal car train I've ever seen. Four pullers and 2/3 down the stack, here comes the 5th engine.

Bob Wilson

 

[David Green]

Sorry, my images seem to have disappeared. The ISP I use is having technical difficulties. I've attached the files to this post.

Bob Wilson

Cool... Looks like an easy and fast charger... Yeah! I will get to use them soon...

 

[bwilson4web]

I've been monitoring comments at the Manchester TN, Electrify America station:

Before it opened, two people made three comments with a pair of them three days before it opened. In effect, I opened the station and since then, 'crickets.' What if you build a network and no one shows up?

I went back to: https://www.electrifyamerica.com/our-plan

Over a ten year period ending in 2027, Electrify America will invest $2 billion in Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) infrastructure and education programs in the United States. . . .​

So what happens after nine years, 2027?

Having an open charging network, there will still be repairs, taxes, and power costs. These operational costs will need to come from someone. After build-out, it needs to be owned by someone interested in keeping the network operational. Just it reminded me of when GM bought the electric trolley companies just so they could shut them down:

Prototype for the EV1 inventory:

Tesla embeds the cost of the SuperCharger network in the cost of their cars. As the cars go down scale, SuperCharger cost for the Model 3 has moved to a pay-for-charge model. For now, Tesla has little risk of another GM or hedge fund planning a borrow-to-bankrupt takeover. But the Electrify America network does not have an advocacy operator.

A lot of the Tesla 'short' FUDsters are associated with hedge fund vultures. They borrow a huge amount to buy a company, run it into the dirt, and sell off the assets. For example:
https://www.thenation.com/article/toys-r-us-workers-take-private-equity-barons-ashamed/

Bob Wilson

 

[Pushmi-Pullyu]

More forgiving than I am.

That's my opinion, too.

Sure, VW paying for some public EV chargers is nice. But it's not like they did it voluntarily. This was paid for out of their fine.

This is a good first step in VW restoring its reputation. But only a first step. Let's see what they do about actually putting plug-in EVs into a high level of production, as opposed to just more compliance cars.

​

 

[Pushmi-Pullyu]

I went back to: https://www.electrifyamerica.com/our-plan

Over a ten year period ending in 2027, Electrify America will invest $2 billion in Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) infrastructure and education programs in the United States. . . .​

So what happens after nine years, 2027?

This is one of several reasons why I think it's too early to forgive VW. Will the Electrify America network be maintained once this period runs out, or will it be abandoned to rust away?

Being optimistic here, I hope it will be sold to a company or entrepreneur who actually wants to make a profit off the network, and so will work to maintain it. The problem with publicly owned EV chargers is that nobody has any incentive to maintain or upgrade them.

​

 

[Paul K]

I think that determining who is going to own and maintain the chargers is a really big issue. There are 3 DCFCs within my service territory and they are absolutely undependable. Relying on these klunkers could easily leave me stranded miles from home. The shortage of reliable and abundant charging away from home is probably the biggest dis-incentive for buying a BEV unless one can afford a Tesla. It's unfortunate that the rest of the world seems to have learned nothing from Tesla in this regard. Single chargers with spotty reliability spaced great distances apart aren't going to entice people away from ICE cars for long trips. This is my biggest disappointment in having a BEV. If and when my 19 year old Saturn dies I'll be forced to either buy another ICE beater for back up or go to a PHEV which I really don't want. Bummer!