Driving Towards a Better Future
It is easy to feel discouraged. War, escalating prices, pandemic, gun violence, drug overdose deaths, wildfires, tornados, drought, etc. seem to be more and more in our faces. Trying to carry on as best we can for ourselves and for the community at large can certainly seem daunting.
In these political opinion columns, Democrats, Republicans, and Independents opine that policies and candidates for political office can bring forward a better future and improve our personal situations. I support the idea that these choices are indeed important and especially worthy of our interest and participation.
I also support the idea that we can make personal day to day decisions that can improve our situations without labeling them as being a partisan action.
The situation surrounding the fact that our climate is changing so rapidly that our futures are imperiled was previously a shared concern across the political spectrum. That shared concern on the political stage has fallen away. However, I think that there are grounds for shared personal action based on good old self interest.
In this column, let’s consider that driving personal vehicles is a necessity in a rural location such as ours. With the cost of fuel at extremely high levels, we very well understand this is a major hit on our household and business budgets.
One of the considerations we can look at is how multi-functional we can make our transportation needs. What I think we should look at is what is termed “V2X” which stands for vehicle to everywhere. Simply, V2X refers to a vehicle that can also serve as a generator for either a home, business, or grid at large - in addition to meeting transportation needs.
Technically, we could do this with our gas or diesel powered vehicles but electric vehicles offer some advantages. As such we need to check out this potential, not as a “bleeding” edge or partisan decision but one worthy of consideration as a potential major asset.
There are only a few vehicles that are set up for this capability at this point in time but the awareness of the potential will make this possibility grow very quickly. The light truck world is likely one of the first to see this. It is already present with the Ford F 150 Lightning.
What could be the benefit of this transportation approach here in Bandera County.
The fact that there is an electric coop that can benefit from and participate in this kind of decision is a unique opportunity for Bandera County residents. Consider that with a time of use rate, one can charge their electric vehicle during the lowest energy cost time of the day. Or with a home solar energy system, the vehicle can charge from solar energy during the time of the day when energy costs are highest. With a vehicle that can send energy back into the grid when the vehicle is not needed, it could do this and provide a credit toward your energy costs.
A very big benefit from V2X is the obvious benefit of having a large home (or business) electric generator that can back us up in emergencies. For those using their vehicle for work with power equipment, there is also the benefit of having a remote power source as well as a useful lower cost transportation means.
On the policy side of facilitating this approach, we need to consider whether our political representatives agree with and will help make this kind of action easy. Right now, it is safe to say that there is a partisan divide with the Democrats ready to help this happen and foot dragging at the best from the Republican side. It does not have to be this way. We want our political policy representatives to work to make better opportunities for us.
We can argue that electric transportation is not a perfect solution for various reasons. However, overall, I see that the benefits outweigh the negatives. Do the calculations yourself and I think you will find it compelling enough to demand appropriate policy support from our political representatives.
W Laurence Doxsey, Retired, Former Director of Office of Sustainability for City of San Antonio, former Environmental Officer for US Department of Housing and Urban Development, former Sustainability Officer for City of Austin, resides outside Medina.