EVs: An Op-Ed -- January 2, 2021

EVs, an op-ed; link here; for the archives;

• a great article; nothing new,
• this article will eventually be moved to a stand-alone post for the archives. It's that good.

Road tax: it would be smart for states and the federal government to tackle this issue sooner than later. Once a tipping point is reached, perhaps as early as 10% penetration, folks will not support extra fees or taxes on EVs for road construction / maintenance. The federal government won't act until it's too late; states would be smart to act now. Three revenue streams:

• initial road tax at time a new EV is bought;
• annual road tax at time automobiles are registered;
• road tax fee levied on EV manufacturer at public charging stations

Distribution transformers: 

Challenges for charging stations:

• at least 40% of Americans don't own their own homes
• apartment complexes
• cars that do not have overnight garage parking / park on public streets overnight
  

Footprint:

• charging station lots off interstate highways, federal highways, state highways and other major thoroughfares
• cars are parked for 30 minutes or so to re-charge vs five minutes or so for ICEs to re-fuel