Charging Up! Feb 2023: The Rise of a Car Culture

Charging Up!

February 2023 Newsletter

The Rise Gas of a Car Culture

After the end of WW2 in 1945, the U.S. economy experienced phenomenal growth, and more Americans than ever joined the ranks of the middle class. The U.S. dominated the automotive industry, turning it into a global power, and with it came the car culture.

Petroliana, Hot Rods and Muscle Cars

Petroliana

Fueling shifted from local blacksmiths, pharmacies, and hardware stores to oil company retailers, and drive-thrus. And with them came icons crafted by top architects, including Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies van der Rohe. Automobilia or "Petroliana," the eye-catching vintage brand advertising designs from the glory days of oil and gas companies (1920-1960) -- found on gas pumps, road signs, oil cans, thermometers, toys and even gas station uniforms -- became highly collectible.

Racing Origins

During Prohibition, moonshiners were notorious for modifying their cars to handle

better, while maintaining a normal appearance, in order to outrun law enforcement. By 1949, these bootleggers were competing against each other, many becoming the early NASCAR racers.

Auto manufacturers, taking notice of the former rumrunners' ingenuity, began producing the "muscle cars" -- the Pontiac GTO, Ford Mustang, Chevy Camaro
-- racing cars priced for the everyman.

They ran on leaded gasoline with its high octane rating that was ideal in high-performance cars.

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The World'sLargest Public Works Project

The need for efficient transportation networks became a priority as the U.S. emerged as a world leader in goods production. And Eisenhower, impressed by the German autobahns, wanted to create a similar highway system for the U.S.

In 1953, the detonation of a Soviet Hydrogen bomb and cold war tensions, instigated a fear that insufficient roads would keep Americans from being able to escape a nuclear disaster. An interstate highway system would strengthen national defense.

The Federal Highway Act to build a National Highway system was signed in 1956 and it would take forty years (~1992) to complete.

It had broad support, and would be funded by a popular excise tax on motor fuel.  It would become and remains the world’s largest public works project in history, larger than the Hoover Dam or Panama Canal.

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Air Pollution,CARB and the Clean Air Act

There are approximately 145,000 gas stations (including convenience stores) with multiple pumps in the U.S., but less than 53,000 public EV charging stations.  They are mainly clustered around cities and only about 12.4% of them with fast charging --  1,400 of which can only charge Teslas.

The U.S. Department of Transportation's NEVI program is looking to change all that with $5 billion in funding under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.  There is an additional $2.5 billion in discretionary grants

for charging and fueling infrastructure targeting rural, underserved, and disadvantaged communities.

NEVI is designed to help states create a network of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations along designated Alternative Fuel Corridors (AFCs), especially along the Interstate Highway System.

All State Department of Transportation plans were approved in September 2022.

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The National EV Infrastructure (NEVI):  Leveling the Field

There are approximately 145,000 gas stations (including convenience stores) with multiple pumps in the U.S., but less than 53,000 public EV charging stations.  They are mainly clustered around cities and only about 12.4% of them with fast charging --  1,400 of which can only charge Teslas.

The U.S. Department of Transportation's NEVI program is looking to change all that with $5 billion in funding under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.  There is an additional $2.5 billion in discretionary grants

for charging and fueling infrastructure targeting rural, underserved, and disadvantaged communities.

NEVI is designed to help states create a network of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations along designated Alternative Fuel Corridors (AFCs), especially along the Interstate Highway System.

All State Department of Transportation plans were approved in September 2022.

Deploy an e-Boost Pod NEVI

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Meet NEVI Requirements‍

Pioneer Power Mobility's e-Boost units can be placed anywhere along Alternative Fuel Corridors and be:
  • Situated 50 miles apart; less than one mile from Interstates and highway corridors
  • Positioned along rural corridors, in underserved or disadvantaged communities
  • Placed in proximity to restrooms, small businesses, and other amenities
  • Relocated to changing traffic patterns or installation of permanent infrastructure

Meet market expectations for power levels and charging speeds with
  • 600kW of power across four 150kW DC fast chargers
  • Combined Charging System (CCS) ports
  • Fast charging of four EVs simultaneously
  • 97% charging uptime

Provide future-proof design to allow for maximum flexibility for future upgrades
  • Utilize renewable propane, available in CA, VT, NH, ME & NY, and soon in all CARB states

Increase uptime, prevent standed assets, and provide long-term operational support
  • IoT sensors proactively detect maintenance issues
  • Integrated network of local propane suppliers automate refueling