The EVolution #12: Electrify the parks
National and state parks are ideal locations to prioritize EV usage and charging stations
One of America’s greatest attributes is our National Parks system—beautiful refuges all across our country, accessible to anyone, that inspire feelings of awe, invite quiet contemplation, provide perspective, and educate us about nature and wildlife. I experienced all of that recently on vacation in Alaska, exploring two national parks: Denali and Kenai Fjords.
Writing in the New York Times yesterday, Kyle Paoletta shares these feelings, but also the accompanying problem that has arisen at many parks:
More than 327 million people visited the public lands managed by the National Park Service in 2019, and, after a brief, pandemic-prompted respite… parks across the country are setting records for visits while landmarks like Old Faithful and Utah’s Delicate Arch have been swamped by picture-snapping vacationers.
Most of Paoletta’s piece advocates for additional beautiful areas to be designated as national parkland in order to reduce congestion at top destinations. That is a good idea, along with encouraging travel to worthy national forests, national monuments, state parks, etc. However, there are also easier improvements that can immediately produce better parks experiences.
Unsurprisingly, what I have in mind is promoting electric vehicles. Replacing loud, smog-emitting vehicles with quiet, zero-emissions EVs directly leads to better air quality and reduces disturbance of wildlife and humans alike. To do this, there are two initiatives on which I’m keen…
Electrify park fleets
In researching my trip to Denali, I discovered the park only has one road, most of which is inaccessible to personal vehicles. A contractor, Aramark, runs a fleet of buses to ferry visitors back and forth within the park. While the buses aren’t electric—they run on propane—they are at least better than traditional diesel for noise and efficiency.
I visited Zion National Park in Utah back in 2016; there I learned that, to manage congestion, the park has banned personal cars since 2000 for most of each year in favor of park shuttles running on propane. In Feb 2021, the U.S. Department of Transportation approved a grant to update Zion’s fleet to all-electric buses. Per a park administrator:
“The new buses will be very quiet. Right now, you can hear the buses from trails in the park, including Angels Landing. The improvements in soundscapes should be noticeable to park visitors, birds, and other wildlife.”
Meanwhile, Glacier National Park in Montana (another of my favorites) was supposed to have debuted its overhauled “red bus” fleet with hybrid engines. I can’t find any proof this has happened, and suspect a Covid-related delay… In any case, as our most crowded parks experience ever-worsening congestion, expect more of them to implement rules like Zion’s to limit personal vehicles.
Accordingly, I’m rooting for EV bus companies like Proterra (which has two electric buses each in Yosemite and Zion) to win park shuttle contracts and quickly deliver their vehicles so that parkgoers can see the benefits soon.
Increase availability of public EV charging in parks
Most parks are nevertheless going to be accessed predominantly by visitors in passenger vehicles, which today are almost entirely gas-powered. Even I, an enthusiastic EV owner, have never taken an electric car on a parks trip, primarily due to concerns about charging. While charging stations are increasingly common along busy highway corridors and at shopping centers, this type of infrastructure at parks is sorely lacking.
Hence I’m excited about preliminary steps being taken to address this issue. EV manufacturer Rivian is building out Level 2 chargers at all of Colorado’s and Tennessee’s state parks. And a week ago, Electrify America announced four fast-chargers will be built at Yosemite—a nice start, but ideally such a large, popular park has dozens (if not hundreds) of parking spaces that should offer plugs. (As of 2020, “Yosemite Valley has about 1,200 parking spaces for day visitors”.)
The good news is most charging at parks doesn’t need to be infastructure-intensive DC fast charging. Level 2 speeds should suffice for hikers that are out on trails or park buses for hours, and would be more than enough for overnight campers!
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A personal note
In this newsletter I traditionally refrain from commenting on issues related to my day job, but I’ll make an exception here to share some exciting news: my employer, whom I joined as a 95-person startup in 2019, on Friday debuted as a (significantly larger) public company!
I was at the New York Stock Exchange, along with colleagues, business partners, and investors, to witness this milestone—a very cool, slightly surreal, and deeply humbling experience. For Volta and for the electric vehicle moment, I hope for many more significant milestones to come!
Do you have any thoughts on covering parking lots with solar arrays, and using the panels to charge EVs underneath? I've heard people who are into ground-mount and utility-scale only say that parking lots aren't good. Hard to imagine anything more utility-scale or ground-mounted than a huge open expanse of asphalt. The other piece would be, what's the ratio of panels to parking spot that wouldn't require outside power? I guess at current rates of EV adoption, that it's not a problem, but maybe you couldn't power every car in the lot with the panels above. Not sure though.