Electric Route 66

Work and the holidays have left me with little time to write for the site, but I did want to squeeze in one more post before the end of 2018. On November 3, my cousin Todd and I headed down to the Road Runner's Retreat, a long-closed Route 66 diner and truck stop near Chambless, California, for a cleanup weekend. Ryan Anderson is the proprietor's grandson, and he goes there periodically to paint over graffiti, cover broken windows, pick up trash, etc. Ryan invited any and all to come out and join him and a friend for the weekend while they spruced up the place. Route 66 booster Beth Murray organized a GoFundMe to help pay for supplies, to help Ryan who usually pays for everything out of his own pocket. The GoFundMe is still active as of now, so feel free to contribute to support future cleanup trips! Into an EV wilderness Although the Road Runner's Retreat does have a limited source of power (more on that later), as a closed business there was of course no official E...

The first travelogue for Electric Route 66 is a trip that actually predates the web site: in September my wife and I had a Sunday afternoon and evening available to visit Needles, California; the urge to road trip with our new car was irresistible! Our main goal was to visit Rosie at Fender's River Road Resort, and get this great Route 66 location set up on PlugShare . Whatever Route 66 sights we could take in around Needles would be a bonus. It's about 125 miles to Needles from our home base in northwest Las Vegas. This is an easy trip in a Tesla such as our Model 3, but for other types of electric vehicles it can be more problematic. The Mojave Desert is a difficult area for EVs because of the small settlements, and large distances between them. For a shorter range EV it's a good idea to top off at the edge of the nearest 'civilization' before heading in.  While it's over 100 miles from our home, it's only about 90 miles to Needles from the edge of the L...

Welcome to Electric Route 66! The goal of this site is to promote electric vehicle travel on classic US Highways like Route 66. It is not always easy to hit the open road in an EV; it's a chicken-and-egg sort of problem: how to build infrastructure at small towns and attractions when few EVs are currently visiting, and how to get people to travel in their EVs when limited charging infrastructure can sometimes be an obstacle. The EV revolution is coming, and the classic and historic stops along Route 66 should prepare for it if they want to survive and grow. As an EV owner and Route 66 roadie I want to help them, so they will be around to enjoy for years to come. Now, I just want to make clear that I'm not an expert on electric vehicles. There are two of them in my household, but I have no technical training or any job in the electric vehicle industry. I'm coming at this subject from the perspective of a layman enthusiast. This should help to keep the postings light and ...