Point us to charging stations

Several Chevrolet Volts at a charging station partially powered with solar panels in Frankfort, Ill.

Text from Robert Whitcomb’s “Digital Diary,’’ in GoLocal24.com

Federal and state highway officials need the authority to direct drivers to electric-vehicle-charging stations with signs. This information could be added to roadside signs (before exits) that point to gas stations, food and lodging, or be on separate signs. They’d encourage more people to buy electric cars. Many potential EV buyers shy away from them because of fear that they won’t be able to recharge on longish trips. (Bathroom signs would be nice, too.)

There are already quite a few charging stations in allegedly environmentally conscious  southern New England, but they can be hard to find. It sure would be handy if most  highway rest stops had them.

Many highway signs include  corporate logos of gasoline companies, such as Mobil and Gulf. Signage rule changes would let them  include the logos of such electric-charging station operators as Electrify America and EVgo and Tesla (only for its cars).  Since not every EV can be charged at every kind of EV charging station, this specificity  is important as we try to get people out of their climate-warming, foreign-dictator-boosting gasoline-powered vehicles. We tend to forget that signs are an important part of transportation infrastructure.

But will NIMBY’s block so much potential solar- and wind-power infrastructure that we don’t have enough electricity in the New England grid to charge all these additional vehicles without large continuing use of fossil fuel to generate electricity?