Electric Vehicles

Those who thought California’s love affair with cars wouldn’t extend to electric vehicles thought wrong. Now the state leads the nation in EV ownership, both in sheer numbers and number per capita by an ever-widening margin. With a mandate to ban the sale of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035 here, one question remains: Is there an infrastructure in place to charge up these power suckers?

The answer: It’s a work in progress, according to both state agencies and actual drivers. One thing is for certain, however, for California’s EV converts — the trend is now the norm, and it’s not going away.

On an early November morning, Daeho Hwang sat patiently in the cockpit of his new Lucid Air. The super sleek luxury sedan looks like a bullet even when it’s not moving. Appointed with leather seats, wood on the center console and dash and screens that seem to blend seamlessly, this car — one the manufacturer says takes only 12 minutes to charge up 200 miles and goes 0 to 60 in 1.89 seconds — is among the most enviable of rides on Interstate 5.

Hwang, traveling to Los Angeles from his home in San Francisco on the front end of a three-day weekend, was busy checking his phone behind the Chalio’s, a road stop in Kettleman City known for its 24-hour service of Mexican cuisine and hearty portions.

There, behind the restaurant, are about a half dozen individual non-Tesla EV chargers. It’s a slightly hidden spot that Hwang said he discovered about a year and a half ago.

“I usually charge it at my home. It’s a little tough [on the road],” he said as he exited the cockpit of the Lucid, explaining that finding a working non-Tesla EV charger out on the interstate can sometimes be a bit of a challenge. “It’s not because of the car, but because of the chargers. There are a lot of broken chargers.”

A self-proclaimed EV evangelist, he said he was one of the first to buy a Tesla and still owns one, along with a Rivian truck, his current favorite. He sees virtues in all of his electric motor pool. “The Tesla’s too bumpy to be honest, like a kid’s car. I’m 50 years old, so I like the smoother ride a lot better,” he laughed, while explaining that the Lucid also only needs one quick charge, max, to get from SF to LA whereas with his Tesla, it can take up to three stops.

Hwang feels the state’s getting better about installing chargers, both Tesla and non-Tesla, but at the same time, there’s still a way to go with the latter. “It’s OK,” he said of finding a place to charge his non-Tesla EV. “It’s getting a lot better now. They’re popping up here and there.”

When asked whether he thinks the state is delivering on its promise to create the comprehensive EV infrastructure needed to power his three different makes of cars now and into the future, Hwang paused for a moment. “Yeah, I think so,” he said. “I’m committed to EVs, so part of it has always been waiting for everything else to catch up.”