Georgia family outraged after Energy Secretary's staff blocks charging station during 'green trip'
AUGUSTA, GEORGIA: Jennifer Granholm is a politician and attorney who served as the 47th Governor of Michigan from 2003 to 2011.
She is currently serving as the 16th United States Secretary of Energy in the Biden administration, where she oversees the nation's energy policies and initiatives, according to energy. gov.
Family contacts police during Granholm's green energy trip
A family was forced to contact the police during Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm's green energy promotion trip, where her staff obstructed an EV charging station in Georgia.
Granholm's four-day journey aimed to highlight the White House's substantial investment in green energy and electric vehicles, as reported by NPR.
However, a significant challenge they faced was the insufficient availability of charging stations, raising questions about the reliability of electric vehicles as a mode of transportation, according to Daily Mail.
The incident occurred outside Augusta, Georgia when a family driving an electric vehicle confronted Granholm's team for occupying an electric vehicle charging station with a gasoline-powered car.
According to Camila Domonoske, the NPR author, an Energy Department staffer parked a nonelectric vehicle near a charging station to reserve a spot for Granholm.
This irked a family, who were already struggling with a baby in the car on a hot day, and they contacted the authorities.
The sheriff's office, however, couldn't take any action in the end because reserving a charging spot with a non-electric vehicle is not illegal in Georgia.
EV charging station blockage
However, the situation didn't look good, and Energy Department employees rushed to resolve it by rearranging several vehicles so that Granholm and the family could charge their cars simultaneously.
The author of the NPR piece, who rode along with Granholm, noted, "EVs that aren't Teslas have a road trip problem, and the White House knows it's urgent to solve this issue."
Electric cars plagued by affordability and charging challenges
Even EVs currently marketed as "affordable" start at prices exceeding $27,000, making them largely unaffordable for the average American family. This high cost, combined with the frustration of a lack of charging stations, contradicts Granholm's goal of making long-distance travel easier.
Despite a meticulously planned trip, charging the EV proved a challenge for Granholm's team, highlighting the gravity of the issue.
In addition to the incident with the Georgia family, Granholm's clean energy convoy encountered a charging station with a malfunctioning screen in Grovetown, Georgia. In Tennessee, the EV the NPR journalist was in had issues with inefficient charging.
Electrify America, an EV charging network, explained that this slow charging problem was not an isolated incident but rather a recurring issue due to a faulty component.
Nonetheless, the Energy Department continues to defend its ambitious and costly plan to revitalize the country's EV infrastructure.
"For over a decade, while our global competitors geared up for the clean energy transition, America lagged behind," the department said in a statement.
"Now, with President Biden’s historic Investing in America agenda, we have over $7 billion to build out convenient and reliable EV charging infrastructure, a portion of which is already awarded to every state, D.C. and Puerto Rico," it continued.
"The private sector is following suit with equally ambitious investments - growing our workforce and keeping money in the pockets of hardworking Americans," the statement added.