Posted on by Californiacontrarian

Holiday Travel

While driving back and forth to Sacramento over the Thanksgiving holiday, I pondered what would happen to holiday travel if the liberal supposition of having five million Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEV) on the road in California by 2030 were to come true. From my house in San Diego to just outside of Sacramento, where my daughters and their families live, is 565 miles one way. It typically takes from nine to eleven hours to traverse these 565 miles, including the stopping for 30-60 minutes to get gas and food. The average speed during the long stretch of driving on I-5 in the San Joaquin Valley is 70+mph.
For a trip like this traveling by ZEV has a few basic problems. The most obvious problem is the distance that a ZEV can go on a charge. A new Nissan Leaf can get close to 200 miles on a charge, while a moderately expensive Tesla can get approximately 300 miles on a full charge. This translates into stooping 2-3 times to recharge the battery if you fully recharge each time that you stop. In addition, charging the battery does not occur instantaneously. At a Tesla Super-charging station it takes 30 minutes for a 170 mile super-charge,and if the ZEV is being charged at a standard  220 volt charger, it could take up to 10 hours for a full charge. Assuming the best possible scenario (30min of super-charging for 170 miles in a new ZEV), the recharging time would add close to 2 hours for this standard trip, compared to 0.5-1.0 hours for a gasoline powered car. However, obviously this down time of only close to two hours assumes that there is no wait at any of the charging stations. After personally observing the number of cars on the road for this Thanksgiving holiday travel, the chance of driving up to an empty charging station is nil. “Wait your turn in line like everybody else!”

Likewise, this estimated optimum mile capacity per recharge is for new ZEVs and is not nearly as good for the older used models. What percent of Californians can afford a new $60k Tesla . . . not many who are driving the 565 miles, instead of flying. As many of you are probably aware, a charge will provide for the maximal number of miles as long as the ZEV is not traveling over 60 mph. For every 10 mph over 60mph about 50 miles of potential distance is sacrificed. Trying to keep your speed at 60 mph on I-5 in the San Joaquin Valley or while going down the Grapevine can only be considered a suicide gesture!

I could go on, but my point is that thousands of ZEVs cannot be driven expeditiously for any significant distance during the times when one expects significant holiday traffic. Note that I said “thousands,” and not millions. Those liberal dreamers who envision 5 million ZEVs by 2030 have never driven from San Diego to Sacramento, or possibly have not even driven from San Diego to Los Angeles!

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