Official US Electric Vehicle Routes

A cross country road trip in an electric car just became closer to reality. The White House announced on Nov. 3 plans to create a 25,000 mile recharging network for electric cars that will cover 35 states in an effort to decrease the reliance on traditional gasoline running cars and increase the use of more environmentally friendly electric cars. As part of the announcement, the U.S. Department of Transportation will designate 48 official electric vehicle routes on highways so drivers will be able to find a recharging station every 50 miles. The federal government will work with states, private businesses and public groups to establish the recharging stations that will enable zero emission mobility from coast-to-coast on highways. The government has also partnered with 28 states, utilities and vehicle manufacturers like BMW, General Motors, and Nissan to accelerate electric vehicle deployment on the DOT corridors. The U.S. Department of Energy is also conducting two studies to evaluate the optimal national electric vehicle charging deployment scenarios, including along DOT’s designated fueling corridors. The White House will also convene key stakeholders this month to continue to encourage state and local governments and businesses to build public electric vehicle charging infrastructure along national highways. Last summer, the White House offered up to $4.5 billion in loan guarantees to support the commercial-scale deployment of innovate electric vehicle charging facilities. Electric cars have increased dramatically in popularity in recent years as there are currently more than 20 models available as opposed to just one model available eight years ago. In that time battery costs have decreased by 70 percent and the number of electric vehicle charging stations has increased from 500 in 2008 to more than 16,000 in 2016.

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Sounds interesting - a support archetecture incentive program instead of a prime hardware initiative. Discuss (civilly, thankyouverymuch)

What are they going to do while their cars are recharging?

Woody wrote: What are they going to do while their cars are recharging?

Hop in the back seat with the spouse? It's the new place to hook up with your date.

In reply to Woody:

Eat?

Log onto the local WiFi and do some work/surfing?

Sleep?

There's a gas station just off I-57 in Effingham, IL that has 7 or 8 Tesla charging stations. I cannot imagine there has ever been an occasion they needed more than two, if that, but I'm guessing someone else paid for them.

A coast-to-coast 3000 mile trip with a stop every 50 miles for fuel, food, and a backseat berkeley?

Sounds really slow, and I'm positive my wife would have no part of it at all.

With charging times, trying to make a cross country trip in an EV with a 50 mile range under its own power is still going to be something that only makes sense in an extreme emergency. And the sort of emergency that does not require you to get there in a hurry. Making this viable will require longer ranges and faster recharge times.

MadScientistMatt wrote: And the sort of emergency that does not require you to get there in a hurry.

That is a very specific sort of emergency.

SVreX wrote: A coast-to-coast 3000 mile trip with a stop every 50 miles for fuel, food, and a backseat berkeley? Sounds really slow, and I'm positive my wife would have no part of it at all.

Most Teslas can do about 200 between charges. Granted, that still means stopping to recharge every 3-4 hours, but it's not unreasonable. Do you stop at every gas station on the highway? No - you stop when you need to fill up. But variances in driving style and cars will determine which station you fill up at.

Personally, I'd rather see charging stations every 30 miles as that would give you more flexibility and with less chance of leaving "unused charge in the tank", but baby steps...

In reply to Ian F:

Right. But the Tesla is the only one that can do it, and Its pretty much the most expensive one out there.

There are virtually no other mass marketed electrics with the capacity to go 100 miles and highway speeds on a charge. You won't be skipping any charging stations in a Leaf.

Oh wait! You won't need the government funded charging stations if you have a Leaf- Nissan has already done it for you, generally closer than 50 miles. Rapid chargers- free too!

It's a political stunt. Without better range, it is useless.

Woody wrote: What are they going to do while their cars are recharging?

A friend takes his bicycle along and explores.

One of the other car magazines did a long distance race between a Tesla and a Model T.

Sort of the hare and the tortoise.

While the Tesla was charging the T just kept puttering along.

iceracer wrote: One of the other car magazines did a long distance race between a Tesla and a Model T. Sort of the hare and the tortoise. While the Tesla was charging the T just kept puttering along.

Who won? This is important.

Surprised nobody here has pointed out that there's actually quite a bit of value in this proposal for the increasing number of PHEVs out there, a market which most manufacturers seem to be aggressively pursuing all of a sudden. Volt, Pacifica, BMW i-series, Ioniq, Prius Prime, etc. I'd bet you will see a fair amount of people stopping to gas up and then charge up while grabbing a meal in those kinds of vehicles.

mazdeuce wrote:

iceracer wrote: One of the other car magazines did a long distance race between a Tesla and a Model T. Sort of the hare and the tortoise. While the Tesla was charging the T just kept puttering along.

Who won? This is important.

Depends on the charging station.

Max cruise speed in a T is something like 35-40mph, call the average pace with refueling and whatnot 35 miles/hr. Max cruise in a Tesla is the legal limit of 70, we'll assume the top end model with the 300 mile range, takes an hour to charge at a Supercharger station, so you can go at best 300 miles in 5.28 hours, 56.8 mph. The Tesla wins with Supercharger stations, according to goggle the average public recharge station is only good for 22 miles of charge per hour though, so on those the Tesla loses bad (about 17mph).

Easiest way for those chargers to work would be for someone to start a subscription service for a booster battery that can swap quickly in and out of electric cars. You pay by the month and they install a carriage in the back of your electric car to fit a universal battery and whatever it needs to hook up and you rent the batteries. Set up a station like the automatic propane tank stations and you simply swap and keep driving.

Huge $ to be made and easy technology. Anyone want to start a company?

Create and invest in a standard and the manufacturers will adopt quickly. Now is the time to invest. Remove the battery failure ownership fear and everyone will be building cars, golf carts, riding mowers, forklifts, tractors, solar arrays, boats, etc. using your standard.

In reply to oldopelguy:

When I lived in the bay area, Tesla was talking about that, going from LA to Tahoe, but I think it fell through. You'd pull in, swap batteries for like $80, and keep going. One of the many catches was that they expected you to bring their battery back at some point.

Until the EVs go to a standard as far as batteries and charging situations go, it would probably have a HUGE upfront cost.

RossD wrote:

Woody wrote: What are they going to do while their cars are recharging?

Hop in the back seat with the spouse? It's the new place to hook up with your date.

"Oh no... we're out of juice again..."

"Didn't we just recharge 10 minutes ago?"

" "

Standardization and swapping is gonna be tough. Its not like swapping your lead acid battery.

A Tesla battery has 7000 cells and is essentially the floorpan of the car.

SVreX wrote: In reply to Ian F: Right. But the Tesla is the only one that can do it, and Its pretty much the most expensive one out there. There are virtually no other mass marketed electrics with the capacity to go 100 miles and highway speeds on a charge. You won't be skipping any charging stations in a Leaf. Oh wait! You won't need the government funded charging stations if you have a Leaf- Nissan has already done it for you, generally closer than 50 miles. Rapid chargers- free too! It's a political stunt. Without better range, it is useless.

It's a chicken-egg situation: EV's need a charging network to be viable. Few people buy EV's because there's no network. The commercial market won't build the network because there aren't enough EV's. This is arguably the exact sort of infrastructure project we need the Govt to sponsor and push things along. This is the sort of thing that makes me feel better about paying taxes.

Cheaper, longer range EV's are coming: 2017 Bolt and pretty much every manufacturer has something similar in development.

I don't think the intent was to truly convince a person to drive their car all the way a cross the country. A cross country trip with time being a concern wouldn't involve a car at all. I think it was intended to ease anxiety about the 3 or 4 hour drive people might take for a business meeting our weekend getaway. For that having a 20 or 30 mile range enhancer every time someone needs a restroom or food would be nice.

pointofdeparture wrote: Surprised nobody here has pointed out that there's actually quite a bit of value in this proposal for the increasing number of PHEVs out there, a market which most manufacturers seem to be aggressively pursuing all of a sudden. Volt, Pacifica, BMW i-series, Ioniq, Prius Prime, etc. I'd bet you will see a fair amount of people stopping to gas up and then charge up while grabbing a meal in those kinds of vehicles.

So you are picturing people gassing up, and then going to charge up as well??? You can't do them at the same time.

My parents now have a PHEV- and they haven't bothered with the charging when away from home- even when I offered it for overnight. It still got well clear of 40mpg.

In reply to Ian F:

Yes, you are right. I agree.

I think the government investment for a kick start is a great idea. I do, however, question the scale. If they are gonna do it, it should happen on a meaningful scale.

Every 50 miles on designated routes is not that meaningful. It's significantly less than Nissan (or Tesla) has already done. It's a token effort, not a meaningful one.

Sometimes a token effort is what's required. "Consumer confidence" has more to do with perception than reality.

I suppose the hope is if the Govt gets the ball rolling, the commercial market will fill in the gaps with faster chargers and/or better/nicer facilities.

Ian F wrote: Sometimes a token effort is what's required. "Consumer confidence" has more to do with perception than reality. I suppose the hope is if the Govt gets the ball rolling, the commercial market will fill in the gaps with faster chargers and/or better/nicer facilities.

Yep, this. Charging every 50 miles is excessive. Current top-of-the line EVs and upcoming mainstream EVs (Chevy Bolt, Tesla E) have 200 miles of range.

If Fisker is to be believed and they've really made a car with a graphene supercapacitor for a battery, that could double in the next couple of years.