Recently, I’ve been writing stories about the EV dead zones in the United States. Some of them have light at the end of the tunnel, often in the form of upcoming Tesla Superchargers with NACS compatibility. Other dead zones have no plans in sight to improve the situation. In this article, I’m going to talk about Navajo and Hopi tribal lands, and why it’s important to address this problem not only for the people who live there, but all of the people who struggle to visit the whole region.
Another popular place to go in the area is the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Coming from the north out of Kanab, Utah, that would be pretty easy because there’s a ChargePoint Level 3 station there. But, if you’re coming from the south, you’re facing the same climb out of Flagstaff and then need to climb again to get to the North Rim.
But, the impact of losing tourists coming to see things instead of passing through is going to hit them harder. When people stop and stay a while, opportunities for buying souvenirs, staying at hotels, eating more meals, and paying fees to see the best places can make a lot more money. All of that will start to fade away unless people get some fast charging opportunities.
Like people living on the reservations, the lack of ability to travel in some of the most beautiful land in the country will discourage EV adoption everywhere else. Nobody wants to buy 99% of a car. We want the whole thing, and we want our cars to be able to make it everywhere our gas cars were able to go. Even if we only plan on going once or twice, that’s still a negative for EV ownership.