General Motors, NADA And UAW Testify Before U.S. House Panel On Transition To EVs
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Representatives from General Motors, the National Automobile Dealers Association and the UAW appeared before a U.S. House panel this week to discuss the accessibility and feasibility of electric vehicles in rural parts of the country.
David Strickland, GM’s vice president of global regulatory affairs, told the U.S. House panel the automaker is working to make EVs less expensive and more convenient, helping to promote EV adoption in parts of the country that will likely see a very slow transition to the technology in the coming years.
The House hearing was held by the House Agriculture Committee, which called the proceeding to address potential problems with the transition to EVs as automakers like General Motors and Ford begin to make large-scale investments into battery-powered cars, trucks and SUVs. Rep. David Scott, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, likened future EV access in rural areas to how telecommunications coverage was implemented in these regions previously.
U.S. Congressman Glen Thompson Jr., a Pennsylvania Republican, also expressed concern over the impact of EVs on rural communities during the hearing. While automakers like GM and the federal government have touted an all-EV future, Thompson believes rural communities will need to have a variety of choices in order to meet their demands.
“Drivers in the marketplace must decide what technology meets their transportation needs, especially rural residents for whom vehicles and private transportation are an essential service,” Thompson said. “The ability to choose ensures vehicles remain a productive tool and not a technological burden to work around.”
GM last year said it would invest $750 million to install up to 40,000 Level 2 EV chargers across the U.S. and Canada. Many of these chargers will be installed at GM dealerships, ideally giving access to GM EV owners in a wide variety of regions.
“GM and its dealers will work together to expand access to charging in local communities including in underserved, rural and urban areas where EV charging access is often limited,” the automaker said at the time.
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Some of these comments really read like a bunch of elitists. “How dare you have needs unfulfilled by battery vehicles.”
Bottom line, I can’t even get high speed internet in my community. How long before I have a charging station? I travel for leisure. Range is still an issue. We have settled on batteries because China owns the lithium mines, and they have bought the politicians. GM is happy to accommodate because their engines and transmissions are trash.
Battery is good for some, but you have to be awfully pretentious to think because it works for you it’s best for everyone. I am capable of determining what’s best for me. And before you go on about environmental concerns, visit a lithium mine, and refining facility.
I suppose its fitting that the last photo in this article has the car plugged into an unreliable ChargePoint docking station… Both the original version of this was junk (the handles would release from the holster in the cold), and the new ones don’t recognize ChargePoint’s own RFID card that they force you to use….
Or else the computer gets confused and tells you it won’t do anything until you stop a previous charging session – as if the person who walks up blind to the thing is going to be able to do that.
Went to 2 different ChargePoints today and finally got the SECOND location to work by calling the broken english Representative at CP who finally decided to turn the stupid thing on. I tried to tell him I’m not trying to purchase any HOME CHARGERS when I’m standing out here in 10 degree F weather, and that my hands are getting cold.
Because mechanically these things are such junk I’d never purchase anything they make… But if its a public charger in a good location then I’ll try to use it in the hopes I find one that kinda works..
A working one in the Hood? HAHAHA!!!! These things break if you look at them cross-eyed.
GMA editor : You can’t edit for the past several days…
Please Change “Handles would ” to “Handles would not”
, \
and “A working one in the Hood” to “As far as the related GMA article about a working docking station in the Hood?”
I have driven 50,000 miles on a 2015 Nissan leaf. One of the best cars and certainly the best automobile investment I’ve ever made. Worry wart doomsayers All of whom do not own and are not familiar with an EV are so frightened and afraid of not finding a place to charge a car. I’ve only used a public charger two or three times in 5 years and 50,000 miles.
Every household that owns more than one car should have an EV. The majority of Americans fill up their tanks on a weekly basis and burn that gas up by making 3 to 15 mile little trips. I plug my electric car in to a 110 wall outlet every evening and in the morning it is fully charged, warm inside from the preheated function and ready to go.
Car companies did not build or maintain the network of gas stations. Why do they need to be involved in EV charging networks? There should be energy companies doing this. I would rather have all that charger money be used to lower the price of the vehicles.
Most of the hater comments are from ignorant gas car people. California does not have a power shortage problem and if you can’t charge at home, you charge at a fast charger! Do these gas car people really think about their comments? Do they have their own gas station at home? No, they go get it at a station. If you don’t like paying the power company 1/6 the price of gas to charge your car, put in solar and drive for free like we do. We haven’t driven a gas car since 2012.
Bring back the horses, they never gave any trouble and with all the manure you can grow more crops!
in the lib cities the hoodlums will be cutting off the cables to sell the copper
And stealing the charging stations