Imagine adopting “Democracy dies in darkness” as a motto, and then running opinions echoing those who’ve dedicated their lives to blowing smoke–literally.
The DC area, yet again, made global news through a massive traffic clusterf–k during a snowstorm as I-95, in Northern Virginia, got so clogged that drivers were stuck upwards of an entire day. Not surprisingly, in addition to climate denier joking about ‘where’s global warming’, anti-electric voices stepped up with false assertions. Rather than truthful discussion of how EVs can keep their drivers warm (especially with heated seats) for days if stuck and making clear that people in internal combustion engines (ICE) vehicles regularly die from asphyxiation when tailpipes get clogged by snow, it is too easy to find anti-clean energy diatribes making false assertions that ICE cars are safer if stuck in the snow. Sadly, but not surprisingly, The Washington Post prominently joined this crowd with a piece from passionately dedicated anti-electric vehicle editorial writer Charles Lane.
Every time our outdated systems for managing *all the things* fail — TX's winter gas crisis; summertime CA grid shutoffs; decapitation of all transportation in a VA storm — at least one mope with an audience will opine that if we try to improve, everything will just get worse. pic.twitter.com/p8DWDkgMVZ
— John Upton (@johnupton) January 5, 2022
Here, as a guest post from Climate Denier Round Up, is a dissection of Lane’s truthiness-laden column.
Imagine Electric Cars Stuck In Snow Instead Of Gas Ones,
Washington Post Acting Just Like Online Trolls
No one wants to get stuck in traffic. Or in the snow. Getting stuck in an all-day traffic jam because it snowed, well, that’s pretty much the worst. And that’s exactly what happened in Virginia this week, when thousands of people spent all day stuck on the highway after a severe snowstorm turned a jackknifed semi from a relatively routine highway occurrence to a major SNAFU.
Fortunately, everyone was okay. But imagine if they weren’t! Wouldn’t that have been terrible! Imagine if zombies had attacked while they were stranded, or if a horde of chuds emerged from the frozen sewers to convert everyone to Scientology, or, and this may be worst of all …
What if the cars stuck in the snow were all electric???
Everyone would surely be dead, or something!
At least that’s what the Washington Post editorial writer Charles Lane is scared of, judging by a column on Tuesday that turned a rightwing meme into his weekly column. “Imagine Virginia’s icy traffic catastrophe – but with only electric vehicles,” implores the headline, as though the issue here were a lack of access to electricity and not, you know, an overturned semi and snowfall that prevented emergency responders from doing their jobs.
The basis for his scary story? A trucker tweeted that he gave someone “driving a Tesla” some water and blankets. Apparently this anecdote “illustrates an important point: If everyone had been driving electric vehicles, this mess could well have been worse.”
Except, of course, that’s not true at all. As both Reuters and Politifact pointed out last year when rightwing shitposters pushed the same scare story, EVs are fine when stuck in traffic jams because sitting there doesn’t run down the battery. (And a reply to the trucker that Lane must have missed linked to a video showing a fully charged EV keeping warm for 70 hours at -3C.)
Idling your gas car does burn fuel though, something that even Lane acknowledged, writing that “of course, cold also affects the performance of gas-powered vehicles; many were left stranded in Virginia after they ran out of fuel or their batteries died.”
Oh!
Nevertheless, Lane used the Tesla driver for his clever kicker complaining that EVs aren’t already cheaper, easier and better than gas cars, saying that like that driver “on I-95 in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, we’re not there yet.”
Except the Tesla family probably drove off fine, but a bunch of people who didn’t have electric vehicles were stuck, by Lane’s own accounting!
Still though, apparently old cars have the advantage because it’s easier to deliver gas to stranded motorists than charge an EV. But that’s only because gas is currently the norm! Can you imagine if the situation were reversed, and gas cars were replacing electric cars?
How would you possibly convince people that toting around gallons of liquid explosives is the safe and easy alternative to a battery or extension cord?
More realistically though, why is the Washington Post publishing this kind of nonsense? Do they really think that double-fact-checked memes are the sort of content deserving of their pages? Worse, are they aware that they’re offering the exact same sort of content as climate denial blogs? Watts Up With That ran a functionally identical post asking readers to “imagine you were stuck in an EV,” and the professional industrial disinformation peddlers at CFACT, who also are just begging people to ignore that it’s gas cars that got stuck and instead “imagine electric vehicles in bad weather.”
And of course, for the coup de grace, you know you’ve gotten something badly wrong when it’s approvingly tweeted by Steve Milloy from his “@Junkscience” account, a handle that originates in his work for Big Tobacco to oppose regulations on smoking in the ‘90s.
Imagine adopting “Democracy dies in darkness” as a motto, and then running opinions echoing those who’ve dedicated their lives to blowing smoke–literally.
NOTEs:
- For a related discussion, see Climate Denier Roundup’s Dec 2021 piece “While both options stink, you’d Be Better Off Getting Stranded In The Snow With An Electric Car than an ICE vehicle“.
“While an internal-combustion car’s engine stays on and burns fuel while idling, electric vehicles use little battery power when at a standstill.” … an EV battery could power the average house for two days, and that even half-charged, an EV battery could provide 10 to 15 hours of heating. And, of course, don’t forget: an electric F-150 can power a wedding!
A gas car, on the other hand, burns gas just sitting around, making it less efficient than an electric vehicle.
Most efficient, though, and a great way to avoid getting stuck in traffic jams all together, if we were to get really serious, is of course public transit.
- For a taste of truth, Tesla might use 10% of its battery capacity to keep a stopped car warm for 7-9 hours of warmth.
- And, from ILSR’s John Farrell
- See this Tesla owner’s discussion of Which is better when stuck in a traffic jam in winter: combusion vehicle or Tesla? comparing his Hyundai Tucson with Teslas in terms of heating demand if stuck in a snow storm.
My Hyundai would use (1.6l * 0.6) = 0.96 liters every hour while idling.
So with a full tank, it could generate heat for (62 liters/0.96 liters per hour =) 64 hours.Model 3s and Ys have a 82kWh battery … only needs 735 watts to maintain temperature.
… can run the heater for 111 hours.
- A Tesla driver (two cars) was sparked by Lane to do a test and, well, heating the cabin to 60 degrees when it is 15 degrees outside, a full charge would keep the car heated for “about” 60 hours.
The pinned comment to his video:
A pregnant woman from the Facebook Tesla divas group posted… “Hey Divas, I hope you’re all doing well. Monday at around 5pm I was in traffic heading home on 95 south in Virginia and got stuck due to the snow storm. I ended up stuck in traffic for 16hrs! Thank goodness for my tesla. I was initially at 74% when I was able to get home I was around 61%. It was a nightmare being stuck in the traffic jam but I’m glad I was stuck in my tesla. I turned on camp mode and napped for a bit.”
Update: 17 Jan: An excellent eye-witness discussion from an EV driver who was caught on I95;
I am especially grateful that I was driving my EV when I got stuck on I-95. I watched countless vehicles slide across the road, but my EV expertly navigated the ice. While fellow drivers burned gasoline running their engines to stay warm, my EV intelligently directed power solely to temperature regulation—I did not have to inefficiently burn fuel to power my entire engine in order to keep us safe. As other drivers then fretted about their dwindling gas reserves, my EV intuitively monitored my power supply, giving me the peace of mind that other drivers did not have. Throughout my entire experience in the I-95 quagmire, I knew exactly how much power my EV was using, how much power remained in its battery, and how far I could drive. …
When the traffic nightmare finally ended, gas-powered vehicle drivers scrambled to wait in long lines at snowed-in and overwhelmed gas stations, but my EV’s navigation system directed me to a nearby open charger; these charging stations were conveniently installed every ten miles along the traffic corridor. Despite the extreme conditions my EV endured that day, I nevertheless made it to the charger with a fifty-mile range surplus.
From that author, Dan Kammenan, his letter to the editor in the Post.
This disaster was precipitated by snow and poor management, not EVs. Let’s not forget that pollution from gas-powered vehicles is exacerbating extreme weather. Fortunately, my EV performed admirably during this crisis. But if everyone drove EVs, perhaps we would have avoided this debacle in the first place.
As to Lane …
Sadly, there is little reason to expect reality to interfere with Lane’s anti-EV ideology.