My Electric Car Adventure

By FRANK LINGO

After touting electric cars for years, I finally put my money where my mouth is and bought one. Browsing on Edmunds.com, a very good car site, I found a used Kia Niro all-electric car with low miles for a bargain price.

One little problem: the car was at a Kia dealer in Louisiana, and I live about 900 miles away in Kansas. The price to ship it was prohibitive, so I flew down to get it.

The dealer sent someone to pick me up at the airport, so that was nice. I test drove the car and it was great, so I bought it.

Then the adventure began. The charge range is about 240 miles, depending on weather and one’s driving habits. It was hot as hell, over 100 degrees, so I was running the A/C but it was still getting over 80% of the projected mileage.

Somewhere in the sticks of Northern Louisiana as darkness fell, I ran low on charge. I pulled into a small town where someone said “Oh yeah, there’s an electric charging station right down there.” Right down there were at least 10 chargers, but the sign said “Tesla Charging Only.”

Back on the road, I ran VERY low on charge, so I asked at a gas station if I could use their electric socket. They were closing up but suggested the vegetable store nearby. The man at the store was very nice and suggested I try the RV park nearby. I went there but it was all locked up. Went back to the store where the man helped me hook up to his outside wall socket.

We chatted for an hour when I noticed that the car had gained no miles. The man had to go home, but let me keep charging. After another hour and no miles, I brilliantly realized it wasn’t working.

Consulting by phone with my darling helpful wife, she said to call AAA. I did and they said they were sending someone. An hour later I called back and they said, “Oh sorry, the driver didn’t think he could find where I was.” I felt grim and isolated. At this point I said to my imaginary dog, “Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.”

I called AAA back and explained where I was more fully. After a couple more hours the tow truck arrived. It hauled the car and I rode in the cab the 40 miles to Shreveport. The driver drove so fast that the car onboard the truck and I were bounced up and down in continuous jolts the entire way. That’s in contrast to my new used car which drives smooth as glass.

After a short night in a motel, I went to the Kia dealer but their fast charger was not working. Surprisingly, a friendly guy at a Mercedes dealer let me use their fast charger, so after an hour and a half I was back on my way.

Near Dallas, I found a friendly Hyundai dealer who also let me charge for free. That got me up to a small town in Oklahoma at two in the morning, where there were four chargers at a gas station. But three of them didn’t work. The one that did work didn’t accept my several attempts to download and use their app, each time requiring me to fill in my address and much more information on my phone which kept dying from low charge. Wasted two hours in this fruitless effort. Can I just rant right here — SCREW ALL THE FREAKIN’ APPS IN THE WORLD!! Thank you very much.

At this point my darling helpful wife found another charging station that was over 20 miles the wrong way. Having no choice, I went back and found the Electrify America station. It took my credit card and I was charging the car within one minute.

That charge got me to my father-in-law’s house in Oklahoma where I could take a nap and have some lunch. Found still another friendly Hyundai dealer who let me charge free.

That got me to Wichita in the merry old land of Oz and another Electrify America station. That final charge and the requisite ritual of clicking my heels together three times while saying, “There’s no place like home” got me there in a trice.

Safe at home, my town’s Kia dealer determined that the charging cord in my car was not Kia equipment, which explained why it didn’t work on my journey. I’m now waiting for the selling dealer to provide an actual Kia home charging cord.

Despite the travails, I don’t regret my purchase. The car drives like a dream and I’ve shed my gasaholic habit. But my adventure drove home the truth that there needs to be far more universally usable charging stations. Not double or triple the ones now available but 20 or 30 times that number, until they’re plentiful as petroleum pit stops.

That’s when electric cars will fill the highways and we’ll all fly somewhere over the rainbow.

Frank Lingo, based in Lawrence, Kansas, is a former columnist for the Kansas City Star and author of the novel “Earth Vote.” Email: lingofrank@gmail.com. See his website: Greenbeat.world

From The Progressive Populist, October 1, 2023

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