Tesla is asking their vehicle owners in Texas to limit their charging due to a heat wave. No literally… the Teslas are asking their owners (additional source). When you get to your Texas-located Tesla & ‘turn it on’… a notification comes up on your screen that asks you to please not charge your car during peak hours if possible (3-8pm)
Not to overstate the obvious, but…
1) Can we imagine what this would look like if more than 5% of cars on the road were EVs? What would the situation in TX be if it was 25%, or 50% EV? Or more?? What would it cost you to charge your EV? …As they ultimately attempted to regulate charging via cost. What is happening in Texas right now is a very factual & unbiased foreshadowing. Tesla is very successful at 5% of the market. But what happens when 100% of the automotive industry tries to be just like Tesla? (which is what’s happening now)
2) Secondly – can you imagine buying a vehicle that uses it’s screen to make requests of the owner… NOT TO USE IT?? What if they took it a step further & took it upon themselves to limit how much you could charge your car? In other words, when and/or how much you were allowed to use the vehicle that you bought/leased? Picture coming out to your EV in the garage, thinking it’s charged because it had been plugged in. And then you get a notification on the screen that says: due to heavy/peak usage, we have limited charging to an intermittent trickle. You thought you would have 100% range… turns out you have 35%.
Remember – Every time you make a purchase, you’re casting a vote on how you want the world to be. Cast your vote wisely. Every time we let yourselves get all smitten with some fancy glitzy gizmo/tech… we have to think… how could this sort of technology eventually be used to make our lives more controlled than free? And is it worth it?
In the effort to keep an open mind though… check out Hyundai’s exciting new EV here!! Wowie!!
