Picture this if you might. Eastbound on interstate 84 through the Columbia
Gorge in your EV the third week of January, 2020. You fully charge your EV
before you leave Portland, Oregon. As you proceed Eastbound through the
Columbia Gorge, along with several thousand cars, and 16 wheelers.
As you progress through the gorge, the outside temperature drops into
the 20's, and it starts to rain, coating the road surfaces with freezing
rain, which rapidly turns into snow. A 16 wheeler jackknifes blocking all 4
lanes of the freeway, trapping all the traffic, including you in your EV,
behind the crash. Within scant minutes, traffic is backed up several miles
in each direction. Mixed freezing rain and snow continue falling preventing
plows and de-icing and sanding vehicles from being deployed. There you sit
along with thousands of others in a snarl of vehicles. The road surface is
so slippery you can't even stand on it, especially if the gorge winds are
blowing. So there you sit, in your electric vehicle, and you run low on
battery charge running your cabin heat. Gonna be a long, long night binky.
Can't happen to you, right? It is an every winter occurence in the
gorge. Usually, several times. People die there.
No electrics for me, you are on your own to do what you see fit with your
money. It is America, after all.
Jim Hupy
Salem, Oregon
Gorge in your EV the third week of January, 2020. You fully charge your EV
before you leave Portland, Oregon. As you proceed Eastbound through the
Columbia Gorge, along with several thousand cars, and 16 wheelers.
As you progress through the gorge, the outside temperature drops into
the 20's, and it starts to rain, coating the road surfaces with freezing
rain, which rapidly turns into snow. A 16 wheeler jackknifes blocking all 4
lanes of the freeway, trapping all the traffic, including you in your EV,
behind the crash. Within scant minutes, traffic is backed up several miles
in each direction. Mixed freezing rain and snow continue falling preventing
plows and de-icing and sanding vehicles from being deployed. There you sit
along with thousands of others in a snarl of vehicles. The road surface is
so slippery you can't even stand on it, especially if the gorge winds are
blowing. So there you sit, in your electric vehicle, and you run low on
battery charge running your cabin heat. Gonna be a long, long night binky.
Can't happen to you, right? It is an every winter occurence in the
gorge. Usually, several times. People die there.
No electrics for me, you are on your own to do what you see fit with your
money. It is America, after all.
Jim Hupy
Salem, Oregon
