Forty-five years ago, the Iranian Revolution had cratered the global oil market, setting off a national gas shortage.
In 海角换妻, residents were allowed to buy gas only on certain days and special 24-hour hotlines were set up to answer questions. Tourism suffered. School officials feared students would be forced to walk to class as school bus tanks ran dry.
Gasoline anxiety was high. So Ella Grasso, 海角换妻鈥檚 governor, announced it was time for her to try something new: For a week, Grasso .
Electric vehicles may seem like a new idea, but the technology has been around for more than a century. For decades now, EVs have seemed like the next big thing, a way to cut ties with planet-warming fossil fuels subject .
But the road to building out a reliable charging network has been bumpy.
In 1979, Grasso was taught how to drive the EV , according to the Hartford Courant. (So were her husband and state trooper chauffeurs.) The governor said she鈥檇 take the EV to and from work each day.
鈥淭his trial period will give me the opportunity to test the effectiveness of the electric car as a means of saving gasoline,鈥� Grasso said .
The car, called the 鈥淐entennial Electric,鈥� was even featured in . In it, the EV putts along on a racetrack as gas cars whiz past.
海角换妻 racing legend Sam Posey pointed out what makes the car unique.
鈥淵ou see, when I roll this car into the pits, they don鈥檛 gas it up like other cars, they plug it in,鈥� he explains.
For EVs, that plug has been both a blessing and a curse.
No tailpipe means cleaner, less-fussy engines. But no gas also brings with it a persistent psychological hurdle for many consumers: anxiety about where to charge up.
While Grasso鈥檚 EV had a highway range of up to 75 miles, batteries in EVs today can .
Still, 鈥渞ange anxiety鈥� persists. Nationwide, a lack of reliable charging has some potential buyers concerned about the ability to take long trips, .
鈥淚t's that presence of public charging that seems to be a sticking point for a lot of people,鈥� says Nick Nigro, founder of Atlas Public Policy, a climate research firm.
鈥淭hey just don't see as many chargers out there as they see gas stations, so it鈥檚 hard for them to feel confident,鈥� Nigro added. 鈥淏ut the reality is there are chargers nearly everywhere at this point and most people could be accommodated by the charging that鈥檚 even present today.鈥�
Feds dump billions into EV chargers
But if you can鈥檛 charge an EV at home, or take a lot of road trips where you鈥檇 have to plug into a public charging station, America鈥檚 lack of widespread, functional charging infrastructure is still a concern.
The federal government is trying to change that.
Nationwide, the Biden administration is spending billions to build out a reliable charging network. .
On a sunny afternoon near the Barkhamsted Town Hall in northwest 海角换妻, First Selectman Nick Lukiwsky walks through the parking lot. Gas cars idle by a nearby traffic light. Soon, this spot could be an oasis for EVs.
鈥淚t鈥檚 modernizing,鈥� Lukiwsky says. And it gives 鈥渁n opportunity for our residents and our visitors that have electric vehicles 鈥� a place to charge.鈥�
Barkhamsted was among several 海角换妻 towns recently awarded a . Lukiwsky says Barkhamsted, a hot-spot for nature lovers, is a charging desert.
鈥淲e are pretty rural,鈥� he says, 鈥渁nd we have a lot of people who come through town here for fly fishing and for our parks.鈥�
The hope is for two dual-port EV chargers to be built in this parking lot. Lukiwsky says there鈥檚 a future for EVs, but acknowledges it鈥檚 taking a while for those chargers to get built.
鈥淢aybe it's my inexperience as a politician here in 海角换妻, but I expected a follow up from the state pretty quickly,鈥� Lukiwsky says.
In a statement, 海角换妻鈥檚 Department of Energy and Environmental Protection said it hopes to start soliciting bids for this EV charger project this year. Another state project using likely won鈥檛 get built until 2025.
A sense of urgency
Nigro, with the climate policy research firm, says there鈥檚 a reason it takes a while.
鈥淢odern transportation programs have a lot of steps you have to go through in order to ensure the public dollars are being spent well,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hat takes time.鈥�
Meanwhile, 海角换妻鈥檚 air quality is only getting worse. A new report says state greenhouse gas emissions are going up and transportation is the biggest polluter.
鈥淭he sooner we can get more EVs on the road, the better it is for the climate,鈥� Nigro says. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e going to emit fewer greenhouse gas emissions than a comparable conventional vehicle.鈥�
And while the paperwork may move slowly, there鈥檚 a sense of urgency, Nigro says.
鈥淲e know it's going to take a long time, we know it's going to cost a lot of money, but it's going to be significantly less costly than the alternative, which is to stick with fossil fuels,鈥� he says.
CT company sees opportunity in EV charging
In Enfield, Dan Shanahan walks across the factory floor of Control Module, which runs EVSE. The company makes EV chargers. Shanahan, a sales director for the company, greets workers fiddling with wires and other machines.
Surrounding him are the kind of EV chargers you鈥檇 see in a parking lot. Shanahan says the company sends out hundreds of these, and other chargers, each month.
鈥淩ight now, there's obviously a lot of activity here, with our electric vehicle charging stations,鈥� he says.
Chargers are lined up, ready to be shipped. Nearby, a ceiling-mounted machine drops a charging cable to the floor. It鈥檚 a stress test. Chargers break, so this cord will be dropped tens of thousands of times to see how well it holds up.
鈥淭his thing just goes day and night. We haven't been able to break it yet,鈥� Shanahan says with a chuckle.
Nearby, a machine sands and smooths the finish on the casing for a charger.
鈥淒eburring they call it,鈥� he explains. 鈥淎nd this will be shaped and formed into the housing for the 3704 charger and the utility pole charger.鈥�
Shanahan says his company has sent out thousands of chargers nationwide, including hundreds in 海角换妻.
When it comes to chargers, there鈥檚 been a lot of progress across 海角换妻. About a decade ago, there were only about 300 chargers in the entire state. Today, there鈥檚 .
For Shanahan, the future is clear: EVs are the next big thing. Manufacturers are making them, federal investments are growing and states are gearing up as climate change gets worse.
鈥淭here's nothing holding this thing back,鈥� Shanahan says.
Except maybe, for now at least, enough spots to plug in.
