My house now, with a red plug-in Volt and a grey gas-powered Acura.

By 2030 most households will have an older gas powered car and a newer EV.

This past week I test drove the Volkswagon ID4 and really liked it.

The all wheel drive model has a 250 mile range, and when I mentioned this to friends they always ask about roadtrips and running out of range.

Thing is… I only drive more than 200 miles in one day less than 1% of the time.

Tesla has a really large network of chargers for Tesla drivers, but other EV’s have to use 3rd party companies like Electrify America or ChargePoint to charge on the road.

Some car companies give you free charging for 2 years on the Electrify America network when you buy a new car.

There are not enough Electrify America chargers to make charging possible everywhere, but in the next 5 years more chargers will be built, especially when (in a recent survey) 36% of American drivers have said they have an interest in electric cars.

Meanwhile?

I think most folks will keep an older gas powered car for longer trips.

I have an 2015 Acura with a 3.5 liter V6…

My Chevy Volt uses gas as well, but if it was full electric I’d use the Acura for longer trips.

Here’s the thing… most EV drivers will recharge at home, in 6 years owning a Volt I’ve only charged it away from home a few times. Of course, I have a large solar array on my roof, so charging at home is effectively free.

How many times do you charge your cell phone away from home? Not that often, right?

Within the next five years more chargers will be built, and EV ranges will increase to 400+ miles.

Hotels will install more EV charge stations for overnight guests.

At Tampa Bay Solar we are marketing rooftop solar and EV charge stations to hotel owners right now.

Like any new technology there will be an adjustment, when cell phones came out in the 1990’s there were dead zones on major highways, but as cell phones became mainstream the cell carriers put up thousands of relay towers to cover most of the United States.

As EV sales become MORE common than gas powered cars we will see EV chargers at every business, in most parking lots, all over the United States.

OK… I gotta go buy food for my bigh Christmas Eve BASH tomorrow night….

Merry Christmas!

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