Defy Convention
I Feel So Green
When I was a little girl in the 60s—yes, I’m old. My family of eight would spend summers in Door County, Wisconsin. Typically, we traveled from Arkansas in two cars, trailing a sailboat which often had a litter of Brittany Spaniel puppies safely ensconced beneath the deck.
The trip grew even more complicated when my dad purchased a diesel car. Long before diesel cars became mainstream, it was the kind you had to pull out a lever and watch the glow plugs warm up before you could start it. Truck stops back then were nothing like they are today. And on several occasions, my older brother who eventually grew up to be a Silicon Valley wizard, had to climb under one of the cars and perform miracles somewhere in the middle of Illinois surrounded by impressively tall stalks of corn as far as the eye could see.
Today’s journey is simpler with gas stations on every corner of an interstate exchange, unless you are crossing the dessert, you needn’t worry too much about where your next stop will be. That is unless you bought a fully electric car while visiting relatives.
I am intensely interested in doing anything I can for our environment, so I have owned two Chevrolet Volts, a 2014 and a used 2017 that have the capacity to be a bridge car as we convert to all electric vehicles. They were a breed unto their own and were killed off before they got to take off. I loved the power and the quiet of the electric motor, relishing in those first 40 miles, before the gas engine kicked in.
Despite big oil’s propaganda to continue to sap the planet of all fossil fuels and thus pollute the air we breathe, all electric EV’s are coming into their own, and are now available in almost any make of car.
I had test driven a Chevrolet Equinox EV, which is very different from its gas counterpart and had not been impressed. I was looking for an all-wheel drive car that could meet some of my outdoor exploration needs. with a higher clearance and to also enable me to get to the grocery store when we have the occasional eight inches of snow in the Ozarks.
Driving to Wisconsin with my daughter and the doxies, I was impressed with her Volkswagen and expressed interest in test-driving VW’s ID 4 all-electric SUV while I was visiting. I was immediately hooked. It had everything I wanted, but when we did a search at my nearby dealership at home, the pickins’ were thin.
We found just what I wanted in a nearby Milwaukee suburb, so I dove into the project. Who doesn’t buy a car while visiting relatives right?
My dear daughter had planned on driving me back home anyway, so we picked the car up in Milwaukee and dropped my Volt off with Carvana. Wow another story for another time.
Volkswagen offers 3 years of free electricity if you use Electrify America, but we ended up having to add a few more apps to our phones and we were off for an adventure crossing the country in my shiny all electric ID4. Our learning curve caused a few tense moments, but we managed our way without ever running out of charge, although we cut it pretty close one time.
The electric apps which integrate into you navigation system would tell you how many EV stations to expect when you stop, how far away they were, what kind they were, and even if they were in use. We were surprised to see typically 2 to 3 in use at a 4-charge station stop. Just like the amicable boating life, we often swapped stories and learned a few things while waiting about 20 to 30 minutes.
The car is a delight, but it is much smarter than I am, and I’ve been watching videos to catch up with the specific technology. So, while I am going green, I am green, but very happy to learn this exciting new technology. I just wanted to share this story with you in case you were feeling adventurous too.