Guest Post by Eric Peters
Imagine that the government decided to tax you to finance a step ladder project to the Moon.
In a very real way, that’s exactly what’s happening. In California right now – and probably soon, other states as well.
The “moon shot” in question is a $22 million project (just for openers) to build thousands of electric vehicle charging stations at $15,000 a piece in the Los Angeles area to support electric cars … which can’t get very far without an electric umbilical cord.
Electric cars like the Nissan Leaf and the electric version of the VW Golf have a full-charge range of about 80 miles under ideal conditions. Less, if it’s very cold – or very hot – outside. The efficiency of electric batteries decreases with temperature extremes as well as use of accessories such as headlights and air conditioning and heaters.
Leaving aside the luxury-car price tag of electric cars (the Leaf and electric Golf, which both list for about $30,000, are the “cheapies” of the bunch; a Tesla starts at about $70k), their limited radius of action makes them useless for other than short trips – under ideal conditions – and when there’s a place to plug in at each end.
And even when there is a place to plug in, the wait is Soviet.
It takes at least 30-45 minutes to recharge an electric car using a high-capacity “super” charging system like the ones being pushed (for you to pay for) by Tesla CEO Elon Musk and being implemented in California.
Continue reading “Paying for Electric Cars… Twice”
