CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The top man with transportation in West Virginia told lawmakers Monday, he doesn’t think the world is even close to ready for electric vehicles.
Transportation Secretary Jimmy Wriston said the lack of charging stations is the tip of the iceberg for why EV’s are not going to soon dominate the highways and by-ways of the Mountain State.
“The technology is indeed there, but the batteries and the rest of the world issues, are not going to let us reach the goals set forth,” he explained to a legislative interim committee in Charleston.
Some members of the body raised questions about how to fund highways as more electric vehicles take the roads. Wriston said it would be non-productive to create a new user fee or tax, but would be a better solution to raise the federal gas tax and manipulate it in such a way for E-V users to pay their share of the wear and tear on the roads.
“The answer is simple, the political will and the political strength to increase the federal gas tax and we as people need to support that if we want the infrastructure we have. That’s a personal opinion,” he explained.
But Wriston added in his remarks to the committee the wear and tear from E-V’s is much different than normal combustion vehicles.
“An E-V is heavier. It wears out tires faster. We do not have the technology in place to where the batteries get you the distance you need to get on a charge. It’s just not there for a rural state like West Virginia,” he explained. “As we see more and more of them, we’re going to be looking at design standards. Bridge standards and the tire industry. Today, we don’t have the ability to deal with tires after they wear out at four times the rate we’re seeing today, and that’s what we’re looking at.”
State Senator Mike Oliverio also questioned Wriston about the safety of the machines. Oliverio said local volunteer fire fighters have suggested to him it would take at least 5,000 gallons of water to put out an E-V fire, but most rural VFD’s have no more than a 2500 gallon tanker.
Wriston said the potential for fire was great at the charging stations as well. He said many of the manufacturers of the charging equipment highly suggest a fire blanket be positioned nearby in case of a fire. He said the blanket wouldn’t put out the blaze, but would control it from spreading to other assets.
“We’re not there. We’re not going to flip a switch and every vehicle in this country be electric overnight. We’re a lot further out than what everybody thinks.,” he said.