All,
What do you need to make a 2,000 mile drive from Michigan to Florida in an electric vehicle?
An extension cord that is 2,000 miles long. At least, that was the common joke when EVs were first introduced.
But that's ridiculous. What you need is a 350-pound gas can that holds nearly 11 gallons of gas and costs $6,500 from Blink, a company out of Miami Beach.
It's a flawed but interesting concept. At 350 pounds, you aren't just taking it on family vacations. Once it goes in your trunk, it stays there. So, less room for luggage. And that added weight in your trunk is going to reduce your range. As for the cost? Yikes.
But it is the equivalent of carry a spare can of gas in your trunk for those moments when you are stranded in the mountains, or on some long stretch of highway and the nearest gas station is still 25 miles away. Still, for that kind of money, I could buy a used gas-powered car and tow it behind me (or take the gas-powered car on long trips and leave the EV at home).
Here's the good part: It can charge an EV mile a minute. If you are 5 miles from the nearest charging station, you only need to power up the generator for 5 minutes. 10 minutes for 10 miles and so on.
But Blink has thought about this. Rather than storing the generator in your trunk, what if it had a fleet of service trucks that were sent out to the stranded EV motorist? Now, I'm liking it even more. You would just need the fleet dispersed all across the United States, or along the major highways, at least. Maybe one parked at every rest area. They seem to be about 40 miles apart on Michigan highways, at least downstate near the population.
Or, what if you could rent the EV with the generator for long trips? You know. You go to your local National Rental Car and say, "I want to drive my family to Floria on vacation, but we want to do it all on electricity." I mean, I spent more than $700 a week for a minivan when I would go visit my folks in Florida. If I could get a similar sized vehicle for that price, I might consider making long-distance drives with an EV. (Okay, maybe once, for the adventure of it. I don't think Deb is as excited or patient with the technology.)
But Deb and I were kicking this around this morning over a cup of coffee. "At least it shows that people are thinking about these kind of problems," she said. And she is right. I like the ingenuity.
There is another company out of Loveland, Colo. trying a slight different approach, according to Automotive News.
Lightning eMotors is targeting commercial EV fleets with its 3,700-pound mobile charging station, called Lightning Mobile, which is available either as a converted truck or a trailer unit. Lightning Mobile includes a battery with a capacity of 184 kilowatt-hours.
The unit's fast charger uses a Combined Charging System connector to recharge a stalled EV at up to 80 kilowatts. All of that power comes with a price, though. The system costs $232,900, plus about $8,000 to put it onto a trailer or the cost of whichever utility van a company would like to use.
Lightning eMotors will build them in batches of 100 units as they get orders.
And what about AAA? Not to be outdone, the roadside service company has dabbled with the idea for about 10 years.
The project used five prototype vehicles, beginning in 2010, that were deployed in the markets with the highest EV populations at the time: Los Angeles; San Francisco; Seattle; Portland, Ore.; and Orlando. All the trucks have since been retired. Maybe that should tell us all we need to know about these service ideas.
But, I'm not pulling the plug just yet. Blink claims 370 percent growth, comparing the first quarter of 2021 to last year and more than 1,500 customers were serviced in that time. It just completed a $232 million equity raise and claims a first quarter revenue of $2.2 million.
Someday, I am going to make that drive from Michigan to Florida in an EV. I just don't know if I'll be packing my gas can/generator or the 2,000 miles of extension cord.
Scott