Electric Route 66

Just a quick post today, about a couple of new chargers. One is on Route 66 and the other is not, but both are worth knowing about. Kingman, Arizona Years in the making, the Powerhouse Visitor Center finally has an EV charger! Given its name, and the fact that the Powerhouse is home to the Historic Electric Vehicle Museum , it's only fitting that EV charging be available at this historic building, which provided power for Kingman and vicinity from 1909 to 1938. The city of Kingman had been in a holding pattern for years on installing a charger here. One of the possibilities they were exploring was a commercial ChargePoint installation, but the time frame was going to be long and the cost significant. Back in May I met Josh Noble from the City of Kingman at the Powerhouse. He told me that the city was in possession of a donated charger and we went to take a look. It was determined that this unit would be suitable to put into service, and before long an electrician came out to ...

An unusual situation presented itself to us in June. We needed to travel a long distance in a very short amount of time, to attend a high school graduation hundreds of miles away from home. There wasn't much sightseeing on this trip, and it didn't take place on Route 66, but I thought it deserved a report anyway. It is a type of trip that is often brought up in arguments against EVs, and the ease with which it was done is a good illustration that electric vehicles really are ready for the mainstream. We have made the trip from Las Vegas, Nevada to Crescent City, California many times in the last 25 years. Usually, we travel down into California on I-15, west on CA-58, and then north along mostly I-5 and US 101. This route is about 1,000 miles and we do it in two days. The 'short way' from Vegas to Crescent City is north through Nevada on US 95 towards Reno, then northwest through Susanville to I-5, up into Oregon and then down US 199 back into California. It's ab...