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Adirondack Almanack
The only independent, nonprofit news organization solely dedicated to reporting on the Adirondack Park.
Is it time for a regional strategy around EV infrastructure?
That answer is simple: yes. What we mean by “infrastructure,” and what kind of focus and commitment is called for, is not so simple.
Typically, “infrastructure” implies physical infrastructure. I’m interested in a bigger interpretation because other aspects of infrastructure are much more important. The physical infrastructure is already mostly there. Sure, we need more high-speed chargers and the grid will need upgrades. But these are all going to accelerate, as they have been. Today there is nowhere in the Adirondack Park I cannot easily reach with my EV.
Of course, I don’t drive a school bus. Concerns raised over electric school buses, for example, are legitimate; success will require additional physical infrastructure, certainly. But for schools and everyday automobile drivers alike, what’s needed more is planning, promotion, financial support and—most important—leadership by example, with education that begins to change a driving culture massively resistant to EVs. The cultural infrastructure around petroleum-based transportation is a deeply rooted part of American life. We need to build a cultural infrastructure around electric transportation that exceeds it.
The most important task is to lift the veil of ignorance and fear around EVs. If I ran Adirondack transportation, the state would have a traveling caravan of EVs that people could learn about and drive for extended periods of time. Mentors would be available to assist and answer questions. A subsidized EV rental system would be implemented across the park: pick one up at Frontier Town, say, and drive it for pennies on the dollar. All government vehicles would be EVs, including shuttles. People need to see EVs, try them, use them and discover how much better they are.
Would this cost the state a lot? Sure, but every cost model shows the eventual payoff dwarfs the investment, not to mention the critical benefit to the climate. Besides, the cost for this would not be as astonishing as one might think. I modeled a modest Adirondack rental system for the state some years ago and came up with a ballpark cost of $25 million over three years, considerably less than the state spent on the Frontier Town campground.
I’m well aware that advocacy for EVs can be buried by in-vogue opinionating. The problem with that, frankly, is that I know what I’m talking about and those who don’t actually use EVs are getting a lot of bad information. I drive only EVs, all over the park in all seasons, to the tune of 30,000 miles per year. I have more than 300,000 miles of electric driving under my belt. I know EVs have become considerably more affordable than gas vehicles. I know the fuel cost is a fourth as much, or less. Engine maintenance is nonexistent. The performance is breathtaking. You couldn’t get me back to a gas car for anything.
People need a chance to know what I know. We need the technical and cultural infrastructure that will dissipate ignorance, spur acceptance and allow anyone to enjoy the EV benefits I love so much.
EV charging stations have become more common at lodging facilities in recent years where guests can charge overnight
Discover what’s working, what’s missing, and what comes next for EV infrastructure in the region
North Country communities develop plans to meet needs of visitors, residents
How to go about addressing EV charging gaps?
Home charging in many cases can be cheaper than public chargers
Pete Nelson is a writer, researcher and teacher who has been active in Adirondack issues for many years. He is co-founder and Board Chair of Adirondack Wilderness Advocates and a co-founder of the Adirondack… More by Pete Nelson
16 Comments
The state has no business advocating EV ownership. The fear you speak of isn’t fear of the vehicle, rather it’s the fear of being stuck for two days waiting for a charge station to be available, or worse being stuck on the roadside, at night, in February. EV sales will soar when the meet the needs of the consumer with the convenience they demand. As more and more privately owned “ fuel stops” are built, more EVs will be sold.
EV’s are cheap to drive if a person has solar panels on their roof and can thus charge them at no cost, setting aside the initial cost of the solar panels. The reality is that the cost of electricity is going up, and because of the explosion of AI, and thus data centers that suck up lots of power, and a national government dead set against solar and wind power. Thus I think it going to take more than just providing people to test drive EVs to get more people buying them, it will require a variety and national state initiatives coupled with bringing more affordable EV’s to the market.
It’s all falling apart.
https://nypost.com/2025/05/03/opinion/time-to-face-facts-hochul-pull-the-plug-on-nys-ev-mandate/
https://www.foxnews.com/media/bill-gates-softens-stance-climate-change-risks-sparking-criticism-social-media
Producing EV batteries involves mining rare minerals like lithium and cobalt, which can lead to habitat destruction, water pollution, and high energy use—offsetting the emissions benefits. Additionally, if charged via coal- or gas-heavy grids, EVs may produce comparable or higher lifecycle emissions than efficient gas cars in certain regions.
Like typical liberals they are blind to the realities of things and only obsess over the facts that support their narrative.
It’s easy (and popular in some circles) to cite how “dirty” EVs *can* be, but it’s also misleading. Society has been dealing with the problems caused by petroleum powered vehicles for many years, so much so that we tend to forget about air pollution, oil spills, and the maintenance costs associated with those vehicles. Those problems are universal – there is no such thing as a “clean” petroleum powered vehicle.
I live outside the park, in an area served by a municipal electric company. I usually charge my EV at home, where most of the electricity is comes from hydro and nuclear sources. It’s true that EV batteries currently are made using mined rare earth materials, but oil also comes from under the ground, and oil refineries are not exactly clean, either. My EV is a lot cleaner than the vehicle that it replaced, and home charging is a lot more convenient than frequent visits to the local gasoline station.
I’d like to see NY spend some of it’s tourism promotion money on funding DC fast charging in places like Old Forge, Speculator, and Cranberry Lake. This would attract more tourists to these areas, which would benefit the local economies.
Expertly written article…….if you’re writing for a main stream news source. Superficially sells the points you want to get across without information regarding the whole topic, just to fit your narrative. The world is changing drastically to a world of convenience. Everything is now based on convenience; store pick up, food delivery services, appliances and vehicles we control with our smart phone and now extremely effective AI so we barely need to research anything. Do you really think people are going to be satisfied with waiting for their vehicle to charge? I’ve rented and driven electric vehicles when on vacation and they are amazing vehicles to drive but the inconvenience far outweighed that especially when my own vehicle is a 2 liter gas engine with turbo and supercharging with a passive hybrid system is as amazing. To think that a state should spend $25 million on a sales gimmick is crazy. Due to the government laws and push to go all electric the manufacturers have been spending their resources in the wrong area. If they were pushed to further develop hybrid systems they could increase the efficiency of vehicles dramatically.
You speak nothing about higher insurance premiums , out of warranty ( typically 8 years or 100,000 miles ) battery replacement. Battery replacement cost from 5,000 to 20,000 dollars depending on vehicle type . Charging station infrastructure or lack of will need millions of dollars for upgrade .
New technology versus the old, tried-and-true ways. I just can’t shake that feeling that we’ve been here before.
Ah, yes — we have. In 1900.
And our great-grandparents’ apprehension over the horseless carriage. I imagine this as a letter to the editor published in some local newspaper:
“I cannot help but voice my uneasiness at this new contrivance they call the horseless carriage, an infernal machine already beginning to intrude upon our quiet ways. The horse and buggy has been for generations more than mere utility; it is the companionship of patient beasts who know the road and the farmer who guides them, the sound of a wheel upon a country lane, the kindly gossip exchanged over a fence, and the honest craft of the wheelwright and the blacksmith whose skill keeps wheel and shoe in order. These creatures and trades bind together neighbourhoods and provide sober employment; they teach boys to be responsible and give old men a dignity in their steady, familiar tasks. The motor-car, with its coughing, oily breath and obscene clatter, startles horses, chokes the air, and curtails the slow, salutary pace of life till every hour seems hurried and every lane threatens danger.”
As Yogi Berra once said, ” It’s like déjà vu all over again.”
“I know the fuel cost is a fourth as much, or less”…..smh.
I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO interest in owning an ev let’s be real for the cost of a decent ev I can buy top of the line SUV and have no fear of having to chose between heat and defrost let’s get real.
Don’t cram it down my throat!
Not at all strange that Mr. Nelson enjoys driving his EV. What is odd is why he thinks the rest of us should be compelled to drive these, especially in the cooler weather patterns that are the norm in the DAKs.
Again…………we tend to lose ‘the negatives’ of manufacturing batteries to propel our EV’s…………..the materials ‘come from somewhere’ and many are scarce and expensive……….hence from the cost of ‘mining’ these materials to bring to the ‘factory’ to manufacture ‘just the batteries’ requires ‘much energy’ which collectively ‘costs more’………..now you have a EV on your hands and need a place to ‘charge it’………….Aye ?……………..Soooooo the manufacturing of this product and it’s component parts is put into ‘actual numbers’…………..as ‘opinions reigh’ and how accurate they are is questonable at best………………to manufacture batteries is an expensive process ‘all by itself’………….Google it…………….’point is’ that it takes ‘much’ fossil fuel from the ‘basic mining of the component materials, the manufacturing of these component parts to a finished product …………….now you have to create ‘more energy’ to ‘charge them’ and that isn’t ‘all a fossel free method’ and that goes on forever……………..as we already know, the amount of energy we will need for the ‘A I’ generation in addition to ‘EV charging’ is ‘mind boggling……………just a reminder that NYS is already ‘electrical energy poor’ by definition………….as well as NYS is against Nuclear and doesn’t seem to be interested in ‘creating more hydro-power, (with the Adirondacks a natural ‘gift’ for creating these facilities) so you’re back to ‘square one’…………..and that’s ‘Drill Baby, Drill’………….Any questions ?
Stephen, Naj, JohnL, Gary, Steve … please, take a minute and think hard, why are you REALLY so passionately against EVs? So much so that you’re investing time and energy writing anti-EV comments in the Almanack?
Could it be you’ve been fed bad information? Imbibed politicized “opinionating”? Fear change (most of us do)? Or maybe just fall into the “against” rather than “for” personality type? All of the above?
Stephen – respectfully, your fears of being “stuck” two days waiting for a charger, or “stuck” roadside in an EV on a cold night are factually inaccurate. The first doesn’t happen. As to the second, a typical EV will keep you warmer, longer, than a typical gas car. Your comments are pure scaremongering. EVs are reliable and convenient. Drive one – exactly as Pete’s column suggests – and you’ll see.
Naj – EVs are roughly 3x more energy efficient than comparable gas models. “Fueling” them costs half or less of what gasoline costs to power a comparable vehicle. That’s physics, not politics.
JohnL – you link to the New York Post and FoxNews as “information” sources for EVs? I truly hope your “It’s all falling apart” comment is sarcasm.
Gary – yes, life cycle emission comparisons between EVs and comparable gasoline vehicles is tricky; different assumptions yield very different results. Check out this newly published study; it seems balanced, fact-based, transparent, and supported: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S294979062500182X. Emissions aside, EVs outperform comparable gas cars is so many other ways – efficiency, operating cost, power, noise, maintenance, performance.
Steve – respectfully, you are stuck in label-land. Energy efficiency and machine performance are not political. Put aside red/blue, liberal/conservative, other distracting labels. Have you actually driven an EV? For an hour, month, year? Pete is writing from experience and knowledge; where is your “reality of things” coming from? I hope, and predict, that if you gave EVs an honest whirl, it would help you let go of distracting labels, dissipate ignorance, open your eyes and mind, and welcome you into enjoying the EV benefits that Pete (and I), love so much.
Seriously, what have any of you got to lose by trying? You might find yourselves being FOR something for a change, instead of just against, against, against …
Pete, excellent article!
Good topic…BUT, the entire discussion completely overlooked information about the ‘END-LIFE’ of EV’s vs. Internal combustion vehicles. What are the realistic expectations and costs for the disposal / recycling of the materials ? Is there a significant economic or environmental benefit available for future generations ?
Electric cars have been around since the 1800s. They never took off becauce like today they just aren’t practical. We have to look to the future with hydrogen, fusion, and other new tech. The future isn’t us driving around on 3 to 5 ton batteries. EVs are old technology and the current NY state push for green energy is just a money grab.
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