About the time you are ready to thank the Utah Department of Transportation for its plans to put up 18 electric vehicle charging stations, you notice they are getting the money from the federal government.
Thank them anyway. Thank them both.
This falls in the why-didn't-I-think-of-that category. It's a great idea: place charging stations all across the state, no more than 50 miles from each other. Suddenly, that notion that you can't drive an EV on a trip -- because there's no place to charge it -- well, that great fear disappears.
Oh, and quit worrying about how long it will take you to charge -- a half hour, tops. The average car should gasp in a 100-mile charge in about a dozen minutes.
The UDOT stations will be funded by something called the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program -- at an estimated $1 million per site. Don't ask me why it will cost so much -- seems something is wrong there.
Oh, and the unfolding world of EVs gets even better. Though it seems like 18 sites is enough, Rocky Mountain Power is going to come along and plant another 20 charging stations along the highways and byways, all in different locations from the UDOT ones. No federal funding there, so Rocky Mountain Power customers will pay 27 cents per kilowatt hour during peak hours and non-customers are going to pay 45 cents.
The Rocky Mountain chargers will get you back up and running in about five minutes. Can you handle that?
If it seems all your excuses for not buying an electric vehicle are tumbling down, that's about it. First, with EVs now having been on the market long enough for a resale market to grow -- I bought a nice little 2016 Fiat today for $10,000 -- you can no longer say they are too expensive.
And, as soon as these new charging stations are up and running -- it's a federal program, so every state is getting them -- you'll just have to quit complaining about how EVs are only practical if you don't plan on leaving down.
(Index -- Climate change)
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