Entering into our bright, shiny, and new "Electric Future!" is going to require some adaptation on the part of us who are being dragged into it against our will.
While the leftists forcing the change have already made the switch.
They get around downtown on geeky little electric scooters, roll the dice on mass transit, or schedule a ride on their car-ride app. Travel outside their home base is to another urban center by airline; on the ground they rent a hybrid.
These people who are so concerned about the climate and "the planet" don’t actually spend much time out of doors.
For those of us who do, and do so in a camper, your electric future is going to have a very limited travel radius.
Mike Landry discovered the folks at Fast Lane Truck had decided to conduct an experiment comparing the distance a gas-powered pickup versus an electric pickup could tow a three-ton box trailer.
Before going any further, we need to talk weight.
The test trailer was 25 feet in length and could haul three tons, but the weight of the trailer itself was between 3,600 and 4,500 pounds.
Let’s take the mid-point and say the trailer was 4,000 pounds.
That’s very close to the weight of a 17-foot travel trailer when its loaded.
Keep that in mind as you convert test results into what it can mean for your electric camping future.
The electric truck was a Ford F-150 pickup and the gas-burning carbon criminal’s vehicle was a GMC Denali Ultimate with a 6.2 liter V-8 engine.
The test began at Longmont, Colordo: elevation almost 5,000 feet, which is good for the "Reddy Kilowatt" types because there’s less wind resistance at higher altitudes and every bit helps when your fate is in the hands of Zeus.
The destination was a fast-charging station 147 miles down the road in Pueblo, in The Centennial State.
One difference is immediately evident: the GMC just has to head for civilization because — so far, the Brandon administration willing — gas is still sold everywhere, while the Ford’s travel options are limited to a select number of plug-in locations.
Usually in urban areas and not forests.
The GMC filled up and after allowing for the trailer, calculated a range of 264 miles on a tank of Putin’s High-Test.
The Ford estimated a range of 160 miles. Close enough for Pueblo.
And they were off!
The Ford had only buzzed a mere six miles down the road when the computer had second thoughts and reduced the range from 160 to 150 miles, leaving a cushion of three miles to Pueblo if they didn’t honk the horn or play the radio.
Meanwhile the GMC was somewhere over the horizon.
Being the good stewards of the environment that they are, the "Reddy Kilowatts" decided to lower their expectations and head for a plug in Colorado Springs, which was 45 miles closer.
Fifty miles of carbon-free adventure later Colorado Springs might as well have been El Dorado because they weren’t making that either.
The Ford had to backtrack to a charging station in a Denver suburb.
Running on random electrons, with low battery warning lights flashing and power reduced to 90%, the so-called "truck" just made it to the charger with just 9% battery left.
Here’s another fun fact for the electric set. Gas stations are designed so that a vehicle towing a trailer can refuel with a minimum of inconvenience to other drivers. Charging stations are designed for vehicles that at most haul a bicycle attached to a mount on the trunk.
The Ford, with its trailer, took up about 10-times more space in the parking lot than designers had anticipated. This makes every charging stop for campers an hour-long session of the stink-eye from fellow drivers.
After the GMC driver had been alerted and turned around to rejoin the "vehicle of the future," the gas-powered truck had traveled 156 miles and had 65 miles of range remaining.
The Ford had traveled a total of 86 miles and was lucky to get that far.
This means campers considering using an electric vehicle to tow the trailer will have to adjust to playing charger leapfrog every 80 miles or so with at least an hour spent calculating how much carbon you offset at each stop as you wait for the charge to finish.
That’s more adaptation than the average American with good sense is willing to invest.
Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Reagan, is a Newsmax TV analyst. A syndicated columnist and author, he chairs The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Michael is an in-demand speaker with Premiere speaker's bureau. Read Michael Reagan's Reports — More Here.
Michael R. Shannon is a commentator, researcher for the League of American Voters, and an award-winning political and advertising consultant with nationwide and international experience. He is author of "Conservative Christian's Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now with added humor!)" Read Michael Shannon's Reports — More Here.