Jennifer Sensiba, Author at CleanTechnica

There Are Lots of EVs on the Blue Ridge Parkway & at Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Sat, 29 Jun 2024 10:30:21 +0000

Recently, I took a trip from New Mexico to North Carolina and then back to New Mexico. On the way out, I visited Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and on the way back I drove about half of the Blue Ridge Parkway before visiting the Smokies again and staying for ... [continued]

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The State of Electric Truck Charging In Mid-2024

Sat, 29 Jun 2024 10:15:00 +0000

Last month, news broke of a massive new electric truck charging station in California. What made this station so impressive is the capability of charging 96 electric trucks simultaneously! As we know, electric trucks can require some serious power to charge, so that means the station must have equally impressive ... [continued]

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Electrify America & Rocky Mountain Power Open CCS Station With Pull-Through Stall Near Arches National Park

Fri, 28 Jun 2024 14:25:06 +0000

Last month, I reported on Rocky Mountain Power and Electrify America’s progress on a charging station in Moab, Utah, right around the corner from Arches National Park. Now, the station is open for business! We don’t typically report on the opening of every new charging station, as that’s happening a ... [continued]

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Many Climate Refugees Will Become Climate Nomads — This Must Be Planned For

Thu, 27 Jun 2024 15:10:51 +0000

Sadly, most people don’t take climate change seriously. After all, we all have a lot on our plates. Heck, I write for CleanTechnica and I don’t have solar panels on my roof or electric heat in the winter. It’s just not something I’m in a position to do yet, regardless ... [continued]

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Overpriced DC Fast Charging Hurts EV Adoption, Favors PHEVs

Tue, 25 Jun 2024 16:34:02 +0000

I recently came across a very interesting post on X, or Twitter, or whatever Elon identifies it as these days. An EV owner had a free charging plan for his Hyundai Ioniq 5, included at the time of sale. This, of course, made road trips easy and fun, as there ... [continued]

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What I Learned Towing 4,000 Miles With A Bolt EUV

Sat, 22 Jun 2024 14:51:57 +0000

A few years ago, I got tired of how expensive travel could be. Even with an efficient vehicle, you’re still needing to pay a lot of money for hotels and for meals. Travel with family, and both of those things get even more expensive. What I ultimately want is to ... [continued]

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Break My Stride: The Real Reason Charging Stations Are Needed Every 20–30 Miles (Or Less)

Sat, 22 Jun 2024 11:27:51 +0000

If you’re experienced with EV road tripping, you know where your vehicle’s “sweet spot” for charging is. Every EV has a fast charging curve, with the fastest charging happening at lower percentages and the slowest charging happening as the battery approaches 100%. For this reason, it’s almost never a good ... [continued]

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My Night As A Climate Refugee Sucked

Wed, 19 Jun 2024 09:50:25 +0000

What I thought would be my last day on the road turned out to go nothing like I planned. Not only did I have some problems with my EV glamping trailer (you can learn all about that here), which needed a repair before I could go on, but then the ... [continued]

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My Bolt-Powered Glamping & E-Bike Trailer Setup (So Far)

Mon, 17 Jun 2024 16:05:15 +0000

Over the last couple of years, I’ve run several small fundraisers to build a better travel setup. The goal? To chase important clean technology stories, show people that affordable EVs can do the job (and are getting better), and to explore efficient trailer design. In this article, I’d like to ... [continued]

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Why Don’t More Charging Stations Have Pull-Thru Stalls & Canopies? How Can We Fix This?

Sun, 16 Jun 2024 10:16:06 +0000

A week or so ago, I came across a social media post from Electrify America that left me a little confused. The stations seemed laid out well. There’s good room, well-marked spaces, and even a lot of space to pull through with a small trailer! But, the company put in ... [continued]

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Why Kempower’s New NC Charging Station Factory Actually Matters

Sun, 09 Jun 2024 04:10:10 +0000

Recently, Kempower invited me to attend the grand opening of their new factory in North Carolina. Normally, the journalistic thing to do is run out the door as fast as you can, get a story ready, and see who can get the story out first. But, I realized before the ... [continued]

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What EV Drivers Want From Charging Stations Is Similar To What We Want At Home

Sat, 01 Jun 2024 05:47:46 +0000

When it comes to driving electric, it helps a lot to be able to charge at home. But, even if you have a great charging setup in your own driveway or garage, when it comes to a long trip, that only takes care of your needs for about half of ... [continued]

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Why PHEVs Like GM’s Next Volt Need At Least 60 Miles Of Real EV Range

Sat, 01 Jun 2024 05:03:25 +0000

With recent news that GM is going to re-introduce plugin hybrids in 2027, it’s likely that the company is still figuring out the design. So, I wanted to offer some unsolicited advice GM and everyone else going back to PHEVs need to think as they put new designs together and ... [continued]

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Texas Gigafactory Might Have An Oft-Overlooked Pollution Problem

Sat, 01 Jun 2024 01:53:15 +0000

An article at The Cool Down shares the frustrating story of some people who live near Tesla’s Gigafactory near Austin, Texas. The complaint: pollution. But this story isn’t about bad air, bad water, or anything like that. It’s also nothing like the complaints of German environmentalists who’ve been trying every ... [continued]

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Was Toyota Right About Hybrids?

Fri, 31 May 2024 23:49:23 +0000

A few days ago, I came across an interesting Twitter (or X, or whatever Elon’s identifying it as these days) post/tweet from Car Dealership Guy. In short, he feels that Toyota was smart enough to either expect the recent U.S. government and industry turn toward more plugin hybrids and less ... [continued]

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EV Charging Needs To Be A Lot Simpler

Thu, 30 May 2024 11:01:07 +0000

During a recent trip across most of the US, I had a really fun opportunity: have some s’mores while the car charged! The Sam’s Club we were parked at was closed and the lot was pretty empty. It was also one of the few pull-through charging stations I’ve come across ... [continued]

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What Happens When We Can Get Picky About Charging Stations?

Thu, 30 May 2024 05:49:23 +0000

For people living in California, New York, or some other area with a lot of EVs, what I’m going to say here may sound behind the times. And, honestly, you’re probably right. I live in a rural state with no urban areas. Even the largest city in the state only ... [continued]

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The State of Bargain EV Towing in Mid-2024

Tue, 28 May 2024 03:51:04 +0000

When it come to towing, everyone talks about trucks. This makes sense, because trucks are built to tow serious loads. So, most people wanting to haul big things around go get a truck. A truck also has a big open area in the back that you can load many things ... [continued]

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GM, Pilot, & EVgo Made The Best EV Charging Station I’ve Visited Yet

Tue, 28 May 2024 03:47:38 +0000

Numbers can only take you so far. It’s easy to compare numbers and specifications in a table, crunch them in a spreadsheet, and tell people that you know about something. But, in the real world, there’s a difference between knowledge and wisdom. Facts and figures can give you some knowledge, ... [continued]

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Franklin’s Charging Shows Us What EV Charging As A Small Business Looks Like

Mon, 27 May 2024 05:18:32 +0000

When it comes to both gas stations and EV charging, the big names get most of the attention. Tesla, Electrify America, EVgo, and others are what people think of first for EV charging, largely because just about everyone has either charged at one or seen one. But, on the gas ... [continued]

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The “Peak of Mount Stupid” — What I Learned Pulling A Trailer Across Texas With My Bolt EUV

Thu, 23 May 2024 12:55:56 +0000

The journey to gaining new knowledge and skills isn’t a steady climb. Why? Because it’s easy to feel confident too early. When you go from knowing basically nothing about something and then learn a little bit, that little bit represents an infinite increase. Looking back at where you once were ... [continued]

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How Pontiac Can Keep The Electric Transition On Track For GM

Tue, 14 May 2024 16:15:07 +0000

In a recent issue of Car and Driver, a mysterious full-page ad announcing the return of GM’s Pontiac brand (which got killed during the GM bailout 15 years ago) has people arguing and debating. Is it a real ad, or a joke by C&D or someone else who paid for ... [continued]

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Moab’s New CCS Charging Station Progresses

Tue, 14 May 2024 15:43:49 +0000

For better or worse, Moab, Utah, is more popular than ever. Not only is it a beautiful place itself, with a green, irrigated valley along the bottom and beautiful red rocks on every side, but it’s loaded with opportunities for outdoor recreation. It’s surrounded by national parks like Arches and ... [continued]

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Chevy Needs A Bolt Pickup To Compete When Tariffs End

Mon, 13 May 2024 00:19:01 +0000

In another recent article, I argued that automakers had better not become complacent when it comes to tariffs against Chinese EVs. Why? Because there’s no way that lasts forever. Market forces can’t be held back indefinitely, and eventually either buyers will pressure the government to lower the tariffs or other ... [continued]

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Domestic US Automakers Still Need To Prepare For Chinese Competition

Sun, 12 May 2024 05:14:14 +0000

News recently broke that the Biden administration plans to jack import taxes up on Chinese EVs, raising them from the current 25% to 100%. This would double the price of Chinese EVs, which would also not be eligible for federal point-of-sale tax credits. This move is obviously meant to protect ... [continued]

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Anker Introduces Modular Whole-Home Battery System

Sun, 12 May 2024 04:16:40 +0000

Years ago, Anker made a name for itself in the United States selling small consumer battery devices like phone power banks, laptop batteries, and chargers. Unlike some other brands from the 2010s that are no longer with us, Anker’s quality stood out from the crowd and the company gained a ... [continued]

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Tesla Writes Off-Roading For Dummies Book For Cybertruck Owners

Mon, 06 May 2024 06:30:01 +0000

A few weeks ago, some new Cybertruck owners who had no truck experience managed to make fools of themselves. While there are experienced off-road drivers who now have a moving doorstop in the driveway, some buyers did things like post pictures of a Cybertruck going slow on a relatively mild ... [continued]

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Electrify America Turns Back To Growth

Sun, 05 May 2024 13:18:00 +0000

A few years ago, Electrify America announced a “Boost Plan” that aims to more than double the number of stations and chargers by the end of 2025. Serious hardware problems got in the way of that plan, forcing the company to slow down. But another recent announcement shows us that ... [continued]

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Is NACS As A Standard In Peril? Probably Not.

Sun, 05 May 2024 06:54:47 +0000

A few days ago, Tesla shocked the charging world when Elon decided to fire the whole Supercharger development team. These weren’t the people who maintain existing sites (thank goodness!), but they are the people who found places to put chargers in, designed the plans for the site, dealt with utilities, ... [continued]

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With Tesla Easing Off, It’s Time For Other U.S. Charging Companies & EV Advocates To Step Up

Wed, 01 May 2024 03:50:17 +0000

The recent firing of Tesla’s whole Supercharger team sent shockwaves through the EV scene. We were left with important questions about why a team that has been doing such excellent work all got sent home. But, what might get lost in the noise was another announcement from Elon Musk: Tesla ... [continued]

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Fox News Cherrypicks Old EVs to Represent The “Foolish” Nature Of All EVs

Tue, 30 Apr 2024 16:25:14 +0000

In a recent video by Fox News, the company finds basically every EV-negative headline they could find for the last several years, and then interviews an automotive journalist who owns two older EVs. The conclusion? EVs are a failure. Here’s the video (I’ll talk about it more afterward): When it ... [continued]

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The History Of US Nature Preservation Sheds Light On How To Better Promote Clean Technologies

Tue, 30 Apr 2024 15:50:18 +0000

For many readers, protecting nature is its own reward, but that’s not true for everyone. Some people get into EVs, solar, and such to save some money. Others get into it because they want the United States to be more energy independent. It’s also common for people to use clean ... [continued]

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Did Tesla Really Lay Off The Whole Supercharger Team? Really??

Tue, 30 Apr 2024 12:14:29 +0000

Update: As a reader has shared, here’s Elon Musk’s tweet on the news, confirming the layoffs and providing some information on a shift in Tesla’s strategy: According to a recent report by Electrek that repeated paywalled reporting by The Information, Tesla has conducted another round of layoffs, this time getting ... [continued]

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No, Tesla Stations Aren’t Open To All EVs (Yet)

Tue, 30 Apr 2024 12:13:54 +0000

A recent article at the San Francisco Chronicle leads with (as of this writing) a headline saying, “Tesla superchargers in California now available for all EVs.” The paywalled article cites a social media post by Governor Gavin Newsom, but there’s just one problem: the headline is completely false, at least ... [continued]

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The Petrified Forest Is In Charging Hell Right Now, But It Doesn’t Have To Be That Way

Mon, 29 Apr 2024 16:25:07 +0000

Being both an EV charging nerd and being way into national parks, I spend more time than I care to admit looking at national parks on Plugshare. It’s a weird hobby, but I’m at least trying to make something useful out of it by building a website with EV travel ... [continued]

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EVs Are Reviving A Fun Kind Of Camping

Mon, 29 Apr 2024 16:15:28 +0000

For some people, camping is about roughing it. Tents, campfires, and backpacking provide people with an escape from the stresses of the modern world. For other people, camping is about seeing the world, but taking as many of the luxuries of home along for the ride as possible. Million-dollar motorhomes, ... [continued]

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Tackling The Back Way Into Guadalupe Mtns NP On Electric Power (Part 2)

Mon, 29 Apr 2024 15:40:22 +0000

Continued from Part 1 Once the road finally finds its way out of the desert and onto the mountain range, a gradual climb begins. It’s still pretty rough here and there, with lots of ups and downs, but there are no more climbs so steep that the road needs a ... [continued]

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Tackling The Back Way Into Guadalupe Mtns NP On Electric Power (Part 1)

Mon, 29 Apr 2024 14:56:45 +0000

If you’re a regular reader, you’ve probably seen all sorts of photos of the EV9 I was reviewing last week. While I had it, I took it out on several adventures, visiting the Very Large Array, a sandstone canyon, and two national parks. Now, it’s time to tell one last ... [continued]

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What’s Going On With Aptera & The Emirates?

Sun, 28 Apr 2024 15:32:53 +0000

While many people on the political right think internal combustion is going to be the norm forever, it’s becoming harder and harder to maintain that position. The talking points have to change every year because they keep being disproven, so many anti-EV trolls have simply resorted to lying their butts ... [continued]

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Engineering Explained Dives Into The Ioniq 5 N’s “Gears” & Other Performance Features

Sun, 28 Apr 2024 13:18:11 +0000

One of the things I love about Engineering Explained is that Jason does a great job of making technical and mathematical engineering concepts accessible to people like me, a person who can assemble and understand automotive parts, but who doesn’t design or engineer them. So, when I saw that he ... [continued]

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Why Is PBS Spreading Anti-EV FUD?

Sat, 27 Apr 2024 20:33:09 +0000

I’ve seen a disturbing trend recently in public broadcasting and in left-leaning media in general that I think we need to take a deeper look at. While it’s definitely true that we can’t only tackle climate change and other environmental issues with individual actions, I’ve seen some YouTube videos recently ... [continued]

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Charging Stations Need A Plan & Not Random Kindness For Busy Times

Sat, 27 Apr 2024 18:51:48 +0000

A recent video from Out of Spec Dave on YouTube shows us something cool that happened at a Tesla Supercharger: drivers figuring out how to deal with a busy charger on the fly. I don’t mean to bag on the kindness of strangers, because ultimately that’s kind of what makes ... [continued]

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Help Me With A Special Project To Prove That EVs Have What It Takes, Get Sales Back On Track

Sat, 27 Apr 2024 05:51:05 +0000

( TL;DR: I’m working on a special project to visit every national park and prove that EVs are good enough for road trips, even if you’re not wealthy. You can donate to the effort here.) The Problem While U.S. EV sales aren’t cratering the way some media outlets and personalities ... [continued]

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Final Thoughts On Kia’s EV9

Sat, 27 Apr 2024 01:27:48 +0000

About a week ago, Kia dropped something pretty special in my driveway: an EV9 GT-Line! I have to admit that I was a little skeptical at first, but I also remembered being pretty impressed with a Sorento Hybrid I reviewed in 2021. So, the big question was this: would Kia ... [continued]

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How To See Two Highly Underrated Places In NM In Your EV

Fri, 26 Apr 2024 15:02:02 +0000

In another recent article, I wrote about the experience of taking a Kia EV9 out on some backroad adventures in New Mexico. But, I also know that not everyone is interested in a review of a Kia EV. Many of us already have an EV we love, and many people ... [continued]

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