Charged up over EV hate
Re: “Internal combustion engine not America’s enemy,” Opinion, Sunday:
One question syndicated columnist Rich Lowry and the rest of the antielectric vehicle crowd fails to mention: What happens when the oil runs out or gas costs $15 a gallon?
We are on our second EV since 2021. We road-tripped in our first EV, charging from 20% to 80% at mostly scarce public chargers in about 36 minutes with a 100% range of 250 miles. Our latest EV does the same charge in 18 minutes with a maximum range of 310 miles.
More chargers are appearing, but the existing ones now can have a wait at times.
Almost all of our charging is done in our garage with the charger we bought and had professionally installed before we took delivery of the first EV. We only use public charging for the occasional long-distance trip.
The cost of a month of home charging for the average 1,200 miles we drive is $40. With an internal combustion-engine vehicle of similar size to our current EV and getting 35 mpg with gas at $3 a gallon, that would be at least $102.
I had terrible range anxiety at first and even came within 3 miles of “bricking” (out of electricity) when we took our first long trip.
Now we are comfortable on trips because we plan stops in advance and EVS have longer range. Our EV’S GPS will even warn if we need to recharge and show us available stops along the route. It will also turn on battery preconditioning in cold weather so the car will charge quickly.
I am very much a fanboy of our EV and most EVS in general. Apparently, Lowry needs to read up on all the facts before he takes aim at the heart of the automobile’s inevitable future.
Arthur Jacobson