The recent exodus from Florida before hurricane Irma was messy ... primarily from evacuation-routes' traffic jams, long lines for gasoline refills and gasoline shortages. This has got me musing about what an exodus would be like a number of years from now when all we have are autonomous and all-electric cars:
- How far can all-electric cars go then when they are stuck in traffic with their air conditioners going?
- How will autonomous cars handle long lines at charging stations?
- Cars running out of charge likely will be more numerous than cars now running out of gas (which might be carrying extra). Will this be a big enough difference to cause massive gridlock?
- Will charging stations have more plug-in sires than current gasoline pumps per location? What number will turn out to be economical for the charging station owners?
- Electric car charging stations won't run out of power in the same way that gas stations run out of petrol during such a surge in demand ... unless, of course, the electric power grid goes down ... which is likely to happen.
- Then what happens? Obviously (and ironically) gas-run generators won't be able to produce enough output to meet the huge potential demand.
- How will all-electric utility repair trucks keep doing their jobs if the electric grid is down? Once out of power, they will likely be stranded.
1 comment:
You are absolutely right. If all those people had horses and wagons, the horses could just graze by the side of the road when traffic backs up. It's the future!
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