Ban electric vehicles from evacuation routes? Florida Republican concerned about cars running out of charge

A Republican state lawmaker successful Florida this week asked proscription officials to see whether electrical vehicles should beryllium banned from removal routes until much charging infrastructure is installed on awesome highways.

During a chat connected charging stations astatine a committee proceeding connected Thursday, State Sen. Jonathan Martin, a Republican from Fort Myers, raised concerns that electrical vehicles mightiness obstruct removal routes successful hurricane play if they tally retired of powerfulness connected highways wherever charging stations are unavailable. 

"With a mates of guys down you, you can’t get retired of nan car and push it to nan broadside of nan road. Traffic backs up. And what mightiness look for illustration a two-hour trip, mightiness move into an eight-hour travel erstwhile you’re connected nan road," Martin said, according to WUSF nationalist radio. 

"My interest is there’s not an infrastructure presently disposable successful nan authorities of Florida for nan magnitude of EV’s that mightiness beryllium utilized to evacuate, connected removal routes, during a clip of emergency," nan GOP lawmaker added. 

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Traffic moves slow connected I-4 East arsenic residents evacuate nan Gulf Coast of Florida successful beforehand of nan presence of Hurricane Ian connected Sept. 27, 2022, successful Four Corners, Florida. State Sen. Jonathan Martin, R-Fort Myers, has questioned whether proscription o (Win McNamee/Getty Images / Getty Images)

Martin's comments were addressed to Trey Tillander, executive head of proscription technologies astatine nan Florida Department of Transportation (DOT). State proscription officials are presently consulting pinch lawmakers connected really to walk national backing from President Biden's bipartisan infrastructure rule to create electrical conveyance infrastructure. 

The Biden administration has made much than $900 cardinal disposable to build EV chargers crossed astir 53,000 miles of road crossed nan federation and Florida is 1 of 35 states, nan District of Columbia and Puerto Rico who person submitted EV Infrastructure Deployment plans approved by nan U.S. Department of Transportation.

Tillander told lawmakers he would raise Martin's concerns to different agency officials, but said nan department's penchant is to find ways to thief electrical conveyance owners evacuate pinch their vehicles conscionable for illustration gas-powered car owners.

"Some of nan things we're looking into … is portable EV chargers," Tillander said. "So, if an electrical conveyance runs retired of charge, location are technologies. We person our Road Rangers. We person our emergency assistance vehicles that we deploy during a hurricane removal that person gas. … We request to supply that aforesaid level of work to electrical vehicles."

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Tesla cars complaint astatine a Supercharger position connected Culver Ave. successful Irvine, CA connected Friday, Jan. 28, 2022. The Biden management has approved hundreds of millions of dollars successful national backing for states to build electrical conveyance charging stations. (Paul Bersebach/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images / Getty Images)

He added that the Division of Emergency Management has guidance encouraging group to scheme up for disasters, including making judge that their EVs are "fully charged" earlier they evacuate and uncovering relocation destinations that are wrong scope of their cars. 

Florida did not person important issues pinch EVs becoming an obstruction during nan removal for Hurricane Ian past year. Electric vehicles dress up conscionable complete 1 percent of nan vehicles successful Florida, according to WUSF. There were 203,094 electrical vehicles registered successful Florida arsenic of December 2022, a mini fraction of nan much than 19 cardinal vehicles registered successful nan state. 

A Democratic lawmaker from Boca Raton pushed backmost connected Martin's concerns.

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US President Joe Biden drives nan caller electrical Ford F-150 Lightning astatine nan Ford Dearborn Development Center successful Dearborn, Michigan connected May 18, 2021. Biden has made investing successful electrical vehicles a apical privilege of his ambiance agenda.  (Nicholas Kamm / Getty Images)

"I don’t deliberation you tin prohibition an electrical conveyance from evacuating because that whitethorn beryllium nan only car personification has," said authorities Sen. Tina Polsky, who owns an electrical vehicle. 

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Florida's DOT is expected to receive $198 cardinal successful national funds complete nan adjacent 5 years to build electrical conveyance charging stations. Tillander said officials person met pinch Wawa and different businesses to coordinate building plans. 

Federal guidelines require that caller charging stations beryllium 50 miles isolated and unfastened to each rider electrical vehicles. In this first information of grants, nan stations must beryllium built wrong 1 mile of nan interstate system, and nan Biden management requires that information must beryllium fixed to agrarian and underserved communities.