MAGAZINE

MARCH 2020

WHEREARE
THECHARGERS? The current state of EV Charging
Infrastructure and what we need
for the next ten years

PLUS AN EXCLUSIVE
Interview with Charles Gerena from Drive Electric RVA
about his experience at Fully Charged Live in Austin, TX

Wh at is t h e r eal r an ge of t h e EV Ow n er St or y: Jason an d h is Zer o

Por sch e Taycan Tu r bo? DSR, Ch evy Bolt EV, an d Spar k EV
 WHEREARETHECHARGERS?
By: Zack Hurst
The beginning of the great Electric Vehicle adoption
wave is upon us. Dozens of new battery electric and
plugin hybrid vehicles are expected in the next ten
years from most of the major automotive
manufacturers and newer "all EV" companies (Like
Tesla, Rivian, Lucid, and more.) According to a report
from the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) from
November 2018, " The number of EVs on U.S. roads is
projected to reach 18.7 million in 2030."

So the challenge is, where are we going to charge

these vehicles?

If you live in California, you may forget sometimes

that there is an EV charging infrastructure challenge
in much of the country. That's because, according to
the U.S. Department of Energy's Alternative Fuels
Data Center website, of the 77,172 charging plugs in
the United States, 24,619 (or almost 32%) are in CA.
If you live in states like North Dakota (43 plugs),
Montana (132 plugs), or Alaska (35), you will
understand where I'm coming from.

Now I know a big argument I'll hear from EV owners

right now is that 80% of EV owners charge their cars
at home. However, while that is true, almost half of
all people in the United States don't have access to
charging at home or work. On top of that, one of the
biggest questions I get from people who DON'T own
EVs is, "Where do you charge your car?" Well, here is
a thought: if there were enough chargers (both LVL2
and DCFC) in highly visible places, would people still
ask that question? I doubt it.
In fact, I would argue that in addition to having more places would be perfect locations to plug into
"enough" charging points for EVs in the next ten a LVL 2 charger while you shop/eat/work out/etc.
years, that building out the infrastructure would also
Companies like Electrify America, EVgo, and
accelerate the rate of EV adoption because people
ChargePoint are certainly building out quickly, but
would no longer see charging as a hurdle to making
according to that same EEI report, "About 9.6 million
the transition. So really, it's possible that the EEI
charge points will be required to support 18.7 million
number of 18.7 million EVs on the road by 2030 may
EVs in 2030."
be low. After all, a lot has happened since the report
came out in November of 2018.
I don't know about your thoughts on the matter, but
I think to go from 77,172 charge points to 9.6 million
Currently, a lot of focus has been on building fast
in ten years is a feat that will take a lot more effort
chargers along major interstate roadways, and while
than what three major companies can handle.
that's important, I think we need to significantly
focus on building a massive level 2 charging network
as well. People need to see EV chargers everywhere So I ask again, where are the chargers? At this point,
they would park their car for an hour or more. it would seem they're in California. However, I'm
Coffee shops, grocery stores, retail establishments, really hoping that the rest of the country sees a
gyms, movie theaters, restaurants, parks, and many massive build out, and soon.
CHARLES GERENA
As the Lead Organizer for Drive Electric RVA and the Chapter
Liason at the Electric Auto Association, Charles Gerena is
about as involved in the EV community as someone can get.
And this passion for electric vehicles recently took him to the
Fully Charged Live event in Austin, TX. It was a pleasure
having Charles on the EV Resource podcast recently (Episode
#004), to talk about his experience there and a few
takeaways that he got from the event. Here are a few
(slightly modified for clarity) excerpts from our chat:

EV Resou r ce: Share a little bit about your experience, what

you liked, what shocked you, if there were any things that
just wowed you.

Ch ar les: Three things stand out in my mind. One is that, I

was fully expecting there to be a lot of EV owners and
enthusiasts there. But, in several of the sessions that I went
to, the speaker would ask people to raise their hand if they
didn't have an EV but were interested in getting one, and
half of the people raised their hand. So the fact that people
went to the trouble to show up at an event like that, to take
a couple of days to learn about EVs, was very encouraging.
On one hand, I really enjoyed connecting with other EV
advocates, having more natural conversations as opposed to
trying to convince or inform, but on the other side of that
there is the danger of being inside an echo chamber and
only talking to people who think like you do. So being able to
share that experience with other people who are interested
in it was great.

The second one was how often Telsa came up in

conversation. The very first session was about Rivian, and
about their new truck the R1T, and it wasn't even 5min
before the Tesla CyberTruck came up. And then comparing
and contrasting the CyberTruck to Rivian's truck. And then
there was another session talking about if other
manufacturers can catch up to Tesla. Additionally, the
display of vehicles that were there, there were Bolts and
Leafs, but the vast majority of the cars were Teslas. Model 3s
specifically. People in the EV community seem to have mixed
feelings about Tesla. It's great that they've succeeded in
elevating electric cars into peoples minds that probably
wouldn't have thought about them otherwise, but there is a
downside.

EV Resou r ce: Yeah, Tesla has become synonymous with

electric cars.

Ch ar les: Right, so that means people think that all EVs are
more expensive, or a certain kind of car. But other car
makers haven't taken the same approach as Tesla. So that
was the second stand out. And I would say the third thing
was seeing the cutting edge of technology.
That was the part that was really exciting. Rivian
was there with their vehicles, and you hear about
these startup EV companies and they have these
really cool looking concept vehicles, but to actually
see that Rivian had a real car, that they actually
drove there, and it was fully functional, was very,
very exciting.

EV Resou r ce: It makes it real.

Ch ar les: Yeah. I've had people tell me, "I'll get an

EV when they have a truck." And so Rivian is right
there with an option. I got to see the LiveWire from
Harley Davidson, which was really cool.

EV Resou r ce: Did you ride it?

Ch ar les: No, I didn't get to. They had a cool

simulator though, where you could actually get on
it and it was on a dynamometer so you could rev it
and feel it revving, but I didn't get a chance to do
that.
---
I do want to thank Charles Gerena again for
sharing a lot about his experience at Fully Charged
Live.

For the full conversation, you can watch the video

on YouTube or listen to the EV Resource Podcast
#004 on SoundCloud. There is a lot more to it than
just the brief excerpt here and you definitely want
to hear the whole thing in Charles's own words.
 Wh at is t h e REAL r an ge of
t h e Por sch e Taycan Tu r bo?
When the EPA released its dismal 201mi range
estimate for the 2020 Porsche Taycan Turbo and
192mi estimate for the Turbo S, you could almost
hear the sneers coming from the EV enthusiasts
online. And it wasn't without reason, 201mi for an
EV with a 93kWh battery is shockingly inefficient.

Usually, the EPA will accept range estimates directly

from the OEMs themselves who test the cars
according to the specified test cycle provided, and
the EPA range is normally fairly spot on. However,
with the case of the Porsche Taycan, the EPA
conducted a verification test themselves.
Seemingly displeased with the EPA results, Porsche
commissioned AMCI Testing to perform their own
test which concluded that the Taycan Turbo had a
range of 275miles. This is quite a lot more, and
speaks very differently about the capabilities of the
car. And since the original EPA number was
released, more and more independent tests have
been performed by journalists as well that show
numbers also looking much better than what the
EPA published.

For example, this past January, Tom Moloughney

with InsideEVs had the opportunity to test the
range capabilities of the Porche Taycan Turbo and
found that he was able to achieve 20% better than
the EPA range "without even trying." He and David
S. Wallens from Grassroots Motorsports took a
road trip from Atlanta, GA to Daytona Beach, FL.
stopping three times at Electrify America's charging
network along the way. The 436mi drive did give
them a good chance to experience many different
driving conditions on highways as well as some
back roads. Tom concluded that his trip
represented that the range was 248mi.

So what is the real range of the Taycan Turbo? Well,

as with ANY EV, range is influenced by a lot of
factors. And it would seem, that in the case of this
Porsche, you can reliably bet that its more than
201mi.
Author: Jason
Vehicle(s): Zero DSR, Chevy Spark EV, Chevy Bolt EV
" I squ ealed, h e
squ ealed, w e all
While Nissan Leaf got the EV game really and truly
going in the modern era of cars. They got something
squ ealed"
absolutely wrong, and something absolutely right.

What they got right? ? People want EV?s

What they got wrong? ? They made ?Save the Planet?
the reason to get the Leaf.

My first EV is the Zero Motorcycles DSR. It?s a

motorcycle that is light like a 600cc motorcycle, but
has the setting to perform like a 1000cc superbike.
Nothing about the Zero brand says ?save the planet?.
It?s all about the motorcycle and riding and enjoying
the motorcycle. It?s about the sheer exhilarating swift
shiftless zero to 80 mph performance, and the
extremely economical way of riding, in eco mode. In
eco mode my DSR gets 11.9 miles per kW! That
means It costs 0.7 cents a mile to ride, second only
to walking or riding a bicycle. As features go for the
Zero DSR it is pretty plain jane with very little to
offer. I am very partial now to the ?trunk? where the
?gas tank? normally is though.

My second EV is the Chevy Spark EV, which replaced

a Prius C. Dear Spark EV, you had me at 327 ft/lbs!
The car is ridiculously quick. It is just an absolute a
blast to drive. Eighty miles range for city living driving
is about double what I need, so yes!
My third EV is a Chevy Bolt EV, you had me when the dealer said punch it, but I was like ummm, no it?s an eco car. Then I did at
25 mph, the tires squealed, the traction control came on, it squealed again, the traction control said, now now now, again. And
then I was going 50 mph, in like 2 seconds, I squealed, he squealed, we all squealed. I shopped for a nice used one, and love
that every day the car is full. I think the Spark has a better display than the Bolt. I don?t like Android Auto or Apple Car play,
both are fine but I don?t like ?hooking up my car ? every time I just want to go to taco bell. The Sparks app link, plays Pandora so
my stations and thumbs up / down work. I don?t need all the other apps that Android and Apple put in. I traded my 3rd Gen
Honda Insight for the Bolt EV. As soon as Honda says all EV, I?ll go back.

As long as car is focused on why we have high performance cars and trucks, they will thrive. Europe is getting all the good stuff
like the Honda E and the ID3. We keep getting way overpriced things with weird interiors from Tesla. I?ve tried both S and X and
hate them, they are terrible interiors, ESPECIALLY for the price! Honda, VW, Renault (3rd Gen ZOE!) are all producing the EV?s
the market wants, which is simply a good normal car ? that happens to be EV powered.

Su bm it you r EV Ow n er St or y at : you r EVst or ies@gm ail.com

www.website.com
UPCOM ING EVENTS
Dr ive Elect r ic RVA EV Rou n d-u p
March 14th 9:00am-12:00pm
Colonial Heights Farmers Market
Colonial Heights, VA 23834
Dr ive Elect r ic RVA EV Rou n d-u p
April 11th 8:00am-12:00pm
The Farmers Market at St. Stephen's
6000 Grove Ave
Richmond, VA 23226

Solar Happy Hou r EV's at Car s & Cof f ee Rich m on d

March 18th 5:30pm-8:00pm April 18th 8:00am-10:00am
Three Notch'd RVA Regency Square Mall
2930 W Broad Street 1420 N Parham Rd
Richmond, VA 23230 Richmond, VA 23229

EV's at Car s & Cof f ee Rich m on d Dr ive Elect r ic Ear t h Day 2020
March 21st 8:00am-10:00am April 25th 9:30am-5:00pm
Regency Square Mall The Science Museum of Richmond
1420 N Parham Rd 2500 W Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23229 Richmond, VA 23220

To con t act EV Resou r ce, em ail: h ello@ev-r esou r ce.com

w w w.ev-r esou r ce.com