Alaska Insight is supported
in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
and by viewers just like you. Thank you. Electric cars are more popular
than ever in Alaska, but do they meet
the test of Alaska's challenging winter
road conditions? The snow is so high
that it was hitting the grill, but it handled really well. We'll hear from an EV car owner and proponents
of the technology right now on Alaska Insight. Good evening. So many of us enjoy the freedom
and joy that comes with jumping in
your car or truck
and heading out for a road trip. If, like me, you've always done
that in a gas powered vehicle. We'll learn tonight
about the distinctions of taking that trip in a vehicle
that does not emit exhaust, doesn't need gas or oil,
makes little to no sound. And we'll hear about how well electric vehicles
perform in Alaska. But before we get to
that discussion, we'll start off
with some of the top stories of the week
from Alaska Public Media's collaborative
statewide news network. Two
U.S. Army helicopters collided and crashed Thursday
near Healy while returning
from a training flight, killing three soldiers
and injuring a fourth. An Army spokesperson
said the names of those killed are being withheld
until relatives can be notified and the cause of the crash
is still under investigation. The crash is the second accident
involving military helicopters in Alaska this year after two
soldiers were injured when an Apache helicopter rolled
after taking off from Talkeetna in Februar
y. Governor Mike Dunleavy says he's
optimistic that state leaders can come to an agreement
on the size of the budget before the end
of the legislative session. He also says legislators may
even be able to pass a long term fiscal plan that could include
a new, broad based tax. Dunleavy, who has long been
resistant to taxes, says his administration will likely release a sales
tax plan in the next few days that will cover most goods
and services. Still,
there is no clear framework for how legislato
rs
and the governor would overcome their impasse over the size of permanent
fund dividends and the reluctance among some
to implement new taxes. With just 20 days
left in the legislative session, Senator Lisa
murkowski voted with Democrats on a resolution Thursday that would pave the way
for adding equal rights for women
and men to the Constitution. However, the measure failed
to get enough votes to advance. Murkowski was one of just
two Republicans to vote with Democrats
for the resolution, whi
le Senator Dan
Sullivan was among the no votes. Sullivan declined an interview
with Alaska Public Media, but said in a statement
he believes the resolution has serious
constitutional infirmities. He also argued
that equal protection for all is already guaranteed by the Civil Rights Act
and the 14th Amendment. You can find the full versions
of these stories and many more on our website. alaskapublic.org
or by download the Alaska Public Media
App on your phone. Now on to our discussion
for this ev
ening. The Biden administration
has proposed strict new pollution limits that would require up to two thirds of new vehicles
sold in the U.S. to be electric by 2032. The proposal,
announced this month by the Environmental Protection
Agency could pose challenges in Alaska, where EV
infrastructure is still minimal. But the state is home to a small but rapidly growing community
of electric vehicle owners. Alaska Public Media's
Michael Fanelli took a ride with one EV owner to find out
how the car ha
ndles Alaska's harsh winter conditions. Kelly Willet just finished her
workday as a medical assistant
in Anchorage and is heading back to her home in Eagle River on the Glenn
Highway. And then, of course,
like the acceleration on the highway is nice. Oh well, its 18 mile
commute is a lot more enjoyable since she bought a Tesla model
y six months ago. She saved for more than
ten years to buy the car. She's been interested
in the sustainability movement since studying biology
in college, but Wille
tt says she was also
tired of the maintenance costs for her Subaru. The only maintenance I have for
the car is to put windshield washer fluid in it
and that's it. Willa is part of a rapidly
growing number of Alaskan EV owners. Chugach
Electric Association estimates there are more than 2300
EVs on the road in Alaska. That's still a tiny percentage
of the total cars. But in Anchorage alone, the number has more than doubled
in the last two years. Alaska's famously long and frigid winters
can be pro
blematic for EVs. Some cars can lose more than 30% of their
range in cold temperatures. But Will, it says she only noticed about a 10% difference
this winter. Perhaps it starts. I charge it to 80% every day,
which is kind of what it's recommended to charge at. And you can see
now that it's just the 74%. And I've been around, I've,
you know, it's a 36 mile round trip for me. As for the handling in ice
and snow, well, it says the off road mode came in handy
on a particularly snowy day when her nei
ghborhood
hadn't been plowed. And I still needed
to get to work. And it worked great. The snow was so high
that it was hitting the grill, but it handled really well. She sees her Model Y fitting seamlessly into her
Alaska lifestyle. We're going to see this year. I'm hoping
to take it out on a hunt. Will it fat
bikes, ice climbs and hunts, often with her dog, Nala. Good girl. As for whether EVs can ever
really take off in Alaska, Willett says they already have. I see more and more every day,
and
people are getting more and more receptive every day. I hope
that it continues to catch on. Unfortunately,
Alaska is so spread out that the charging network isn't there yet,
but it's getting there. I think eventually EVs
are going to be more prevalent in Alaska
than you believe they could be. There are currently 12 active
fast chargers on the Alaska road system,
but many more are on the way, thanks to $52 million in federal
infrastructure funding. In Anchorage,
I'm Michael Fanelli. Joining me to
night
to discuss the future of electric vehicle
use in Alaska is Dimitri Shein the executive director of the Alaska
Electric Vehicle Association. And Mark Henspetter is also here Mark is a business development
analyst for Chugach Electric. Welcome, both of you. Great to be here. Thank you. Thanks so much for being here
in person. Dimitri
I want to start with you. How many Alaskans are part
of the association and sort of what's the aim
of the organization? Well, you know, we pretty much treat
ev
ery Alaskan, the advisor, the owner as a member. So if as your story mentioned,
there's 2000 members. So and so the goal of the Alaska
Electric Vehicle Association is to advance EV adoption
and promote infrastructure development for electric
vehicles in the state. Okay. Pretty straightforward. Yeah. You put on the Arctic Road
rally. Tell us about this effort
and why. Well, you know,
so we try to do fun things to promote EVs in Alaska. And what we did was we build a fast
charging network from Fai
rbanks all the way
to a looked at point, which is the northernmost
drivable point in the United States. And basically
why is to say that, you know, if you can build a fast
charging network from Fairbanks to Electric Point and drive ten electric vehicles
there in back, you can do this anywhere like a new highway in
Alaska can be electrified. So I think we just proved
the point that EVs are good
and possible in Alaska. And how was that trip?
It was amazing. It was amazing scenery. It was. I'd like
to thank ConocoPhillips
for hosting us at Car Park Operations Center. It was very beautiful
and a great learning experience. What initially convinced
you to buy an electric vehicle? Why did you decide to do it? I always was interested
in electric vehicles, but my apprehension has always been
because we have a big family. I have six children and I knew the vehicle
that could fit a large family. So Tesla made the Model X
that would fit seven people. And then I decided, you know,
this is the time.
And, you know,
I've I've been pretty happy. I've had I have had this vehicle
for six years now. Oh, you have? All right. Well, thank you, Dimitri
for starting this off. Mark, I want to turn to you now
to gas. Electric
has an incentive program for people who buy home
charging units. Tell us about that program. Yeah. So we have an incentive program that's
for our residential members. So if they purchase a TV and install a charging, either a plug or a charger
in their homes, we'll give them a bil
l credit
or $200 bill credit for that incentive. And that's for home charging. That's at 240 volts. So it's it's
faster than just your 120 volt standard plug, but
it is for residential members. But we also have a similar
program for commercial members. So we have incentive program
for both level two, which is up to $1,000
and then for DC fast charging for commercial members as well,
which is up to $5,000 to install those more expensive
but also faster chargers. How long has the program in place
and how widely adopted
is it becoming? How many people have them now? So our residential program
was started in 2021. We currently have just under 200 members
who are actively participating in that which, you know,
based off of the number of EVs registered in the Anchorage
area is about 2020 5%. So we've seen a lot of interest
in that program and it's helped people install EV chargers
and charging at home. Well,
you brought one with you today. Let's look at it. And what does it cost for
someone
to put one of these in? So the. Well,
I'll start just by showing this. And this is a
the Tesla mobile connector. It's it's Tesla branded. But this here will work with
with any electric vehicle today. So this is about $230. This is my personal one
I own and drive it and charge at home
and this is an adapter. So this is the Tesla plug. So this would work with a Tesla vehicle
and then this adapter goes on and it will work
with all the other EVs. So I like this one
because it's really flexible. This
will charge any EV
and you can see here this is just a standard hundred
20 volt plug like you have any any wall outlet
or you can swap this out and put on a higher speed plug
that can get this right that would plug into,
say, a dryer outlet if you had. Oh, I was going to say
that would require not just your regular household
current, but. This would be a regular household current
that you already have. So this would be 244.
Oh 240 Yep. And that's all you need
for fast charging. So a lot of peop
le already have the infrastructure
in their homes to, to do EV charging, level
two, EV charging. I usually just plug
in at the 120 volt, but there's a lot of flexibility
and it varies on cost kind of depending on
how fast you want to charge. So it's a level two charger
that has wi fi connectivity and some smart management tools
maybe in the 5 to $600 range. But the costs are coming down. And if you're willing to charge
a little bit slower, say, maybe for four or 5 hours
overnight, you can get a
charger like this for,
you know, less than $300. You also brought an image
of a level three charger. Let's see that and tell us about the differences
between level two and level three in terms of speed
for charging and also the price. Yeah. So this is the level
three charging station that's over
at the Diamond Center, and that one's
capable of up to 62 kilowatts. So that's about ten times faster than what
this is capable of here. And those are direct
current charging stations. So DC fast chargin
g stations,
level three, that's kind of the terminology. And those units
are much more expensive. So the return on investment
for a level three charging station is longer
than for a level two. And those costs
anywhere from $50,000 and up
depending on how fast you get. Modern charging stations
now can be upwards of 250 or 300 kilowatts,
so speeds are rapidly increasing as vehicles
increase their their voltage. So the actual voltage of the
vehicle battery has an impact on how fast it can charge. B
ut the diamond center charger
will take about an hour to charge your vehicle up. If you're in a low state
of charge up to 80% or more. There's federal money
aimed at getting more fast chargers installed. You said
they can be up to $50,000. So some of the DC fast chargers at very high
speeds are start at $50,000. So to develop a site
that meets the standards for the National Electric
Vehicle Infrastructure Grants, the net funding, those require that there's
going to be four charging stations capa
ble
of 150 kilowatts or more. So that can be a site
that's that's very expensive to develop. It is estimated
it could be, you know, $1,000,000
per site for some of those. Once you factor
in all the equipment, the hardware, the switchgear,
transformers, site development. So this is a significant
investment in infrastructure,
but it will have a longer term. And there's is it about $52
million coming to Alaska to help support that? There's going to be 52 million
total. The first phase right now is
going to be
for the alternative fuel corridor
between Anchorage and Fairbanks. I believe it's $16 million
that's in the in the first round of funding. I had someone say to me
the other day, well, I would never we're not ready
for electric cars here because how are you going
to get to Fairbanks? And I was thinking about how when I first moved to Alaska
and people said, if you're driving to Fairbanks,
you have to stop in Cantwell or you won't make it. Is it the same thing now that
there is a charg
er in Cantwell? Correct. It's interesting
you brought that up. There's actually
two fast chargers in Cantwell. So yeah. So you can drive
to Fairbanks in the wintertime. You would probably have to do
some planning to make sure you arrive
at the fast chargers with enough range and and budget
some time for charging. But other than that,
I think Mark just drove to Fairbanks recently,
so in his RV. So yep. On Tuesday I went from Anchorage to Fairbanks and back
actually in a day I went up the park's
h
ighway and came back the Richardson
and Glenn Highways because they're like Major said,
there are fast chargers in Cantwell, in Healy,
in Fairbanks and Delta Junction and Glen
Allen now. So there's a lot more fast charging. It's it's still not ultra
high speed, but there is fast charging and a lot of people
don't even realize it. So, Dimitri
as someone's still driving a gas engine car, how different is
the feeling as you're driving? I have a manual transmission
in my car, too. It's older. It's
hard for me to imagine
driving a vehicle that operates on a completely different set up
than a mechanical drive train. Yeah. I mean, some people who drive in the village say, Oh,
it feels like a roller coaster because it's just so effortless
that you're kind of floating. But I mean, it's a good feeling. It's,
you know, it's very convenient. It has additional electric vehicles, offer
additional conveniences, like being able
to warm up your vehicle with an app in your garage and, you know, having
lots
of features and connectivity. So yeah, it's a great
vehicle to drive in Alaska. And what do you find for the differences between
winter and summer conditions? You've had yours
for six years now. How how much reduction is there
in cold weather for how far you can go on a charge? I think a simple way to describe this
is that in the wintertime, it's summertime. I can go about three days
without plugging in my car at home. And the winter time,
because you're running the heater, you're
there's m
aybe snow on the road. I'll have to plug in my vehicle
every evening. And it's just a simple
in your video, you just kind of plug it in and you go to sleep
and you wake up and you have a full tank of gas. So it's pretty effortless. To find
some new terminology there. So it seems like things are really starting to advance fairly
well around South Central and up through the quarter
up to Fairbanks. But for folks that want to go on the other roads that we do have,
there aren't a ton of them. But is
there a way for them
to find out where they can see about where a charging station
may be? How will they know that? Well, like everything else in
life, there's an app for that. So it's
called Plug Share dot com and it has a list of charging sites
and they vary from official fast charging sites
to a level two sites and even some motorhomes and so forth. And campsites offer a level
two charging, so you kind of have some options
for traveling around. So you can see that
there's the plug share up t
here. That you can. Actually see the map
that shows the Anchorage area and then you can pan around
to other areas of the state. Yeah, it's a very useful tool
for planning. Very useful. Yes. Thank you. There there are incentives
for buying and leasing electric cars within the Federal Infrastructure
Act up to 70 $500. What do you know
about these intensive incentives and for leasing, are there
many options yet in Alaska? Do you want to have ideas
about that? Yeah. So the provisions on on the feder
al tax side
have been rather dynamic and it's been
a bit of a moving target. But where things have landed
now, you know, it is going to require that the vehicles
you purchase are, you know, assembled in North America, have a majority
of their components. The battery minerals
and materials sourced from North American production
or free trade partners. So there's some criteria there. So not all EVs are eligible
for the tax credit, but most of the the GM
products are most of the Ford products are E
Vs and Volkswagen
as well as some Teslas. So other Volkswagen
get in there. So Volkswagen
actually the vehicle I have the ID for is made in America. They have a new assembly line
in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The batteries
assembled nearby in Georgia. So there's a lot of
manufacturing that's coming to the US to take
advantage of these tax credits. If you are looking to lease
a vehicle, there's more options. Even like the Subaru sold, Hara
is eligible for the lease. The Hyundai Ioniq five,
I believe
is eligible. So there's a bit more
flexibility on the leasing side and that may be a good way
for people to kind of get their feet wet
and dry and heavy. And how easy or difficult
is it right now to go out and buy an electric vehicle
in Anchorage or Alaska? Generally today. I would say, of course, it
depends on what kind of vehicle. But if you like, if you can,
just about every dealership, major dealer in town has some
kind of an EV like Honda or Kia. Ford has the Ford Lightning, VW. And so jus
t about
every single dealer has an offering
of an electric vehicle. So things really have changed
in the last five years. You mentioned
that the incentives, the materials have to be
primarily sourced in the US. We know that most of the rare earth minerals
and a lot of the components are coming from China
and other places currently. How difficult will that make it
to get those incentives when there isn't
a lot of that sourcing that's happening,
at least not currently in the US that might ramp up
in the future,
but isn't happening right now. It it is ramping up right now. And so there's going to be a lot
more flexibility over the next 2 to 5 years on where
those materials are coming from. Right
now, there's a lot of the raw materials like, say,
the lithium, for example, a lot of that's
coming from Australia. So it's not just to be eligible
for the tax credits, it's not just US sourced
but free trade partners as well. So there is some flexibility
there and there's going to continue to be
more exploration
in North America because there are reserves
of these materials. Some of them like lithium,
again, just need to be accessed in a different way. So there's technologies
to extract it from geothermal brines and kind of different types
of mineral extraction. That's low impact. There's also a fairly robust
recycling program with these vehicles. Yeah. And if I could just add
one more point to Mark, what Mark is saying, you just check the IRS dot gov website
for which vehicles qualify
and shop with confidence knowing that you can buy an RV that qualifies
for the tax credit. But yeah,
there is a with batteries, there are major recycling programs starting
and funding from the federal government is being administered
to make sure that there is a responsible way
to recycle any batteries. And that's there's a fairly high percentage of of these components
being recycled, correct? There is. I think Tesla as of like 2020,
I think Tesla was saying they were at about 92% Redwood Materi
als,
which is another major recycling manufacturer
that now has partnerships with Ford
and some other major automakers. They're saying
about 95% recoverable. So it's,
I think, an important message that these batteries in these
vehicles have a lot of materials and that material's
still valuable. Even if it isn't useful
to the EV anymore, it can be either repurposed
as a stationary storage if it just has slightly less energy density
but still works fine. And if it's an EV that's been an accident
a
nd needs to be deconstructed, those materials
still have a lot of value because they're
they're already processed. We don't need to
go into the ground to get them. They're already there. Just repackage them
and put them back in the car. Dmitri,
you said the bonus of owning an electric vehicle
is the fun of driving it, but you said
the jury is still out on whether they are actually cheaper to buy
and own than a gas engine car. Why is there not more of a clear
distinction for you here? Well,
it is
a very new technology. And, you know, repairing something that's brand new and parts
may not be readily available. It may just lead to longer
lead times and longer wait times
to get your vehicle repaired. And some of the parts
like computers and screens and all the fancy things
that we see in new products tend to be a little
bit more expensive to repair. Let's look at to get electric looks at the number
of fully electric and hybrids registered in Alaska
every six months. And we have a graphic
a
bout that. The graph shows that fully
electric vehicles are more popular, which kind of surprises
me, given the the current limits for charging,
it's getting better. But for both of you,
what do you hear from owners about why they choose
fully electric over a hybrid? Well, one of the reasons
a lot of people choose full battery electric
is it's so much simpler. A plug in hybrid is almost more
well is more complex than even a traditional vehicle because you still have a gas
engine drive train and
battery electric motors and drive train, whereas a full battery
electric vehicle, it's just electric motors
and battery. There's, you know, orders of magnitude
less moving parts and the maintenance
that goes with that. So that's one of the reasons. And what do you hear
from your association members? Yeah, I would agree. It's just kind of the the plug in version,
the hybrid version is kind of just that takes the complexity of both vehicles
and puts it into one. And that's why people tend to go
ei
ther gas vehicle or a vehicle
fully be. And that's why you see full,
full battery electric vehicles outperforming
the plug in versions. All right. Well, thank you
both so much. This went by very quickly. Was fun to see an actual charger and how simple
the technology is. So thanks for being here.
Absolutely. It's interesting to consider
what the future could be like with more electric vehicles
plying the roads of Alaska, less pollution
from tailpipe emissions. And for people who live by busy
city
roads like me, less noise drifting to my house from
the loud vehicles streaming by. We know the fuel transition
will take time, but cleaner, quieter energy
technology is the aim for the future
health of the planet and ourselves,
even in a state that for decades has made its bread and butter
from extracting fossil fuel. That's it for this
edition of Alaska Insight. Visit our website, alaskapublic. and reports from our partner
stations across the state. While you're there, sign up
for our Free Da
ily Digest so you won't miss any of
Alaska's top stories of the day. Thanks for joining us
this evening. I'm Lori Townsend. Good night.
Comments
I own a 2022 Chevy Bolt EUV, all electric, in Anchorage. ITS AMAZING IN ALASKA. Best car ever. The oil industry wants you to believe the propaganda that EVs don’t do well in the cold. Some don’t. Most now do. Some are better than others. There are really 3 important things to consider: 1. AWD. 2. Heat pump 3. Range. Enjoy saving money and polluting less with me! 🥳
As of January 18, 2024 in Chicago we’ve just had a cold snap when the batteries are cooled they will not fast charge if you don’t condition it properly