A TikToker who shared a video of destroyed electric vehicle chargers showcased one of the problems preventing widespread EV adoption.
Kyle Lowe (@kylelowedotcom) documented the newly installed infrastructure, writing, "Why can't Downtown Fresno have nice things?"
@kylelowedotcom Why can't Downtown Fresno have nice things? #EVchargingstation ♬ original sound - Kyle Lowe
"Oh, man, these chargers just went in," he said, "and they've already been cut, and someone put socks on 'em. I don't know what happened there, but, yeah, this is totally f*****."
In a thought that could have come from many people, he added, "I was looking forward to charging there when I finally get an EV."
Some TikTokers thought the copper cables were cut and removed to be sold for profit by vandals, while other users joked about what they felt was malicious behavior.
"I bet the horse and buggy owners back in the day did s*** like this to gas pumps," one commenter said. "Just dinosaurs delaying the inevitable."
Another wrote: "I go around cutting fuel pump nozzles because I don't know how to express myself in a productive, healthy way."
Still more people offered solutions.
"Why don't they have EV Stations that just have sockets and then you just plug in your own cable?" someone asked.
A user responded, "It's gunna be what the end up having to do."
"Put up cameras and get the vandals next time," one TikToker stated. "That's a lot of time behind bars."
In fact, many EV charging stations do now have security cameras either built in or stationed nearby to monitor them, but it's certainly not the case everywhere.
It was a healthy debate, and a necessary one. EVs, which save owners thousands of dollars, are being adopted at record rates, though there has been a market slowdown in the United States recently.
Top of mind is the everlasting "range anxiety" issue, which plagues EV owners and — maybe even more so — those who are considering switching from an internal combustion engine vehicle. If you can't be sure about the location or number of public charging stations, you can't confidently drive, rent, lease, or buy an EV.
The Biden-Harris administration has worked to solve this problem and recently said 200,000 new chargers will be available by the end of the year. But the rollout has been slow and uneven, Autoweek reported.
It's important to get right, as nothing less than the future of Earth — and, consequently, humans — depends on our ability to reduce pollution caused by the burning of gas, oil, and coal. These sources of dirty energy have heated the planet exponentially in just the last 42 years, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration showed.
We can make changes, such as choosing EVs over gas-guzzlers, but corporations must be held to account as well — especially the oil and gas industry, which has known since at least 1954 that it was causing such harm but has only put the pedal to the metal as it reaps record profits.
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