Running Out of Fuel
We were in a 30-minute traffic jam coming back from Nantucket once we reached the mainland. It’s not unusual because Massachusetts has created a phenomenally bad traffic pattern where two lanes of cars from two different directions have to merge to get around a rotary. The powers-that-be have just shrugged their shoulders and decided it’s easier to cause people delay and to waste gas and pollute the air than it is to try to redesign traffic flow.
My wife and I are used to this once a year, so we chatted and listened to music. But, then, unfortunately, I began to extrapolate (that is not against the law in Massachusetts, though it may be in Florida, I doin’t know).
What happens when a couple of thousand cars in these kinds of jams are electric? Just like gasoline cars, the fuel will diminish, but ICE (internal combustion engine) cars can pull over into gas stations that dot the route. And whether ICE or EV, a lot of drivers don’t bother to fill up before long trips with possible delays. You all probably use WAZE to wend your way through traffic congestion, and you’ve all experienced sometimes an hour or more delays—as in those long lines of parked cars on main roads curing horrible storms. In an EV, do you freeze to death to preserve the battery, or do you stay warm until the battery drains and then freeze to death? AAA delivers gas as do many roadside assistance plans.
Will they be able to deliver the charge, the “juice”? Some people today carry extra gas in their cars just in case. With EVs, will they carry long extension chords?
