A recent passage through Atlanta (there’s no good way around it) went slowly enough that I could see the cars as more than blurs. Honda crossovers seem to be predominant, but Tesla Model 3’s are probably second. I saw more 3’s in Atlanta than I have ever before seen. Relatively cheap, decent range and compact, it seems to be a fair choice for a city car. I’m not sure how well it would do if you live in an apartment, but some people apparently like it.
I’ve been interested in EVs for years, but have limited myself to farm vehicles and a motorcycle that wasn’t quite practical. I live so far out in the boonies that some EVs wouldn’t make it to Walmart and back.
That trip through Atlanta was made in an antique Chevy pickup and it went a lot faster than if I’d been in a Cybertruck. And, I might add, there are no antique Cybertrucks. You trade one kind of cool for another.
Now, my friend Jerry has also been an EV enthusiast for years and he is truly hard core. These days he drives a Chevy Bolt. He has a place in the wilds of Colorado and his pilgrimages there are true adventures. He’s learning where the charge stations are, but there are other challenges.
Some mean-spirited folks will park their internally combusting machines at EV charge spots to block people who need a charge. Fords can now charge at a Tesla charger, but have to take up two spaces to do so. Some people find charging stations to be a wonderful source of free copper cable and take all the cables. Some charging stations are busy. Charging is slow. Some charging stations just don’t work. Seems like it is always something, you know?
Well, Ol’ Jer is a true die hard, even if he has to rent something to trailer the Bolt home.
Years ago, he had a VoltsRabbit for sale, cheap. I wanted that thing, but I was self-unemployed at the time and thought it best not to spend the money. It needed 96 volts worth of 6v golf car batteries and they add up. Maybe they were floor scrubber batteries, which add up quicker. I didn’t even go see him about it, to avoid temptation. Years later, I recently learned the story of why the VoltsRabbit was sitting there for sale.
He loved the car. It wasn’t really peppy, like a Tesla, but driving it was being different and, to some degree, it was “sticking it to the man.” That’s always fun. The thing is, with all that extra weight of the batteries, you had to frequently adjust the clutch. To get to the clutch, you had to remove batteries. There is nothing difficult in that, but it is tedious and involves heavy lifting each time you get one loose. On the way back in you’ll clean up any corrosion and top up the water.
So, this one time, Jerry gets all the batteries out and needs to take a break. When he got back to the project, he discovered that someone had made off with all of his batteries. The scrapyard probably gave the culprit $9 each for them, whereas replacements would cost a bit more. Kind of like the charge station that recently had to pay a half million bucks for new cables, while the culprit maybe got $50 for the wire.
Poor Jerry. Down, but not out. He loves his Bolt and his next plan to stick it to the man is to build a solar carport charge station for it. That’s a neat little project for those of you who have taken the EV plunge and like to DIY. Try it!
–Neal