Florida STate WILLpromoter Jonathan Martin are asking traffic officials to somehow limit the use of Tram during emergency evacuation, such as those conducted during the storm. Senator are suggesting that trams could become a “barrier” if they run out of power along major evacuation routes, according to CBS news.
Martinwho currently sits on the Florida Environmental and Natural Resources Commission, wants The state is considering keeping electric vehicles off these routes until more charging stations can be built, for fear that stuck trams will clog busy roads. Florida has been planning to add new EV stations, which will be paid for by federal aidAnd is expected to receive $198 million over the next 5 years to build its EV infrastructure.
But until then – around 2028, or so – it seems Martin is raising the possibility that electric vehicle owners should stay off the road during emergency evacuations, per CBS:
“There are a few guys behind, you can’t get out of the car and push it to the side of the road. Traffic is back. And what might look like a two-hour ride, can turn into an eight-hour ride while you’re on the road,” Martin said Thursday during a discussion about charging stations at Senate Select Committee on Resilience.
Martin added: “My concern is that there is currently no infrastructure in the state of Florida for the number of trams that can be used to evacuate, on evacuation routes, during times of emergency.
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Ignoring the fact that a gasoline car stuck without fuel along an evacuation route creates the same bottleneck as an electric vehicle and is difficult to access — because temporary evacuations turn curbs into driving lanes — the state senator’s concern seems to have no established precedent. Yes, an ICE-equipped car may be easier to refuel to get around, but an EV can also be given the right tools.
One of the chief technology officers of the Florida Department of Transportation, Trey Tilander, answered following the state senator’s suggestion by explaining that the state was looking to help electric vehicle owners, rather than keep them off the streets during an evacuation:
“Some of the things we’re looking at… are portable EV chargers,” says Tilander. “So if an electric vehicle runs out of power, there are technologies. We have our Road Rangers. We have emergency support vehicles that we deploy during gas storm evacuations. … We need to provide the same level of service for electric vehicles.”
And it’s not the electric vehicles that have previously posed a major risk to Florida evacuees. No mass “EV barrier” situation has occurred yet, so to say the least the senator’s claim seems unfounded. Like CBS The state did not have “serious problems during the evacuation of Hurricane Ian last year,” the report said.
CBS adds that electric vehicles accounted for only one percent of vehicles at the time; The Florida Department of Transportation projects this number to reach 10 to 35 percent by 2040. In other words, with federal grants for charging stations Governor Ron DeSantis’ The state will soon receive, Florida’s electric vehicle infrastructure must be well equipped to handle any electric vehicle flow for the foreseeable future. The state does not need to restrict the use of EVs during an evacuation.
