Road to electric car success requires lifestyle changes

I am writing to add personal insight to Tim Kirner’s extremely well-done Maine Compass on Feb. 9 (“Anybody can buy an EV. Nobody should have to”). Even though I have owned my Tesla Model 3 for over three years, I am still learning.

The article sets the argument for EV ownership exactly where it should be: on the shoulders of well-informed decision makers. So here is a personal glimpse into the issues the writer raises. To help, I will share my experience of driving my car to church Sunday morning, then home, and then out to Framingham, Mass., late morning.

First the trip to church: temperature 10 degrees Fahrenheit, 6.69 miles driven, 10.83 miles used. The trip cost me 32 cents. The trip home was similar (data from TeslaFi).

Now for the trip to Framingham.

Tesla does a great job recommending charge stops for trips. With an EV, one must make sure to have sufficient charge to get to the destination, leave the car for several hours (where the car uses power to keep the battery warm), and then have enough charge remaining to reach a charging station for the return trip.

For the trip down, my battery was charged to about 270 miles. The trip down took 196.8 road miles but consumed 272.2 battery miles, roughly 72% efficiency. I stopped twice for charging. The return trip was similar. The average temperature was about 33 degrees.

Kirner’s comparative numbers between gas vs. charging stations forces one to be very careful about the remaining charge — you just can’t pull off and fuel up. I have a friend whose EV was towed twice because of an inability to get sufficient recharging on a trip to upstate New York.

So just where do the extra miles consumed go? Largely on heat for the interior and preconditioning the battery for fast charging. Additionally, wind, elevation change, temperature, and speed do matter. A driver will see the impact of all these factors far more in an EV than in a gas-fueled auto. Tesla has a built-in app that shows the driver how every mile of the battery is spent on any trip.

I returned home with about 60 miles left on the battery. I am fortunate to have a Tesla home charger, which charges about 45 miles per hour. The garage is insulated and heated, which helps the battery. Kirner correctly addresses the apartment dweller and their lack of sufficient charging capabilities. In Maine, a dedicated home charger is essential.

Driving an electric vehicle requires a lifestyle change. Charging takes time, planning for trips takes time, stops for energy are more frequent. To force an EV mandate is one thing; a lifestyle change, on the other hand, cannot be legislated. And for EVs to be successful in the state of Maine, it will take changing hearts and minds.

J. Gregory Jolda

Augusta