The EVangelist

10/16/2026

Our Tesla Model Y drove us across the Continental Divide on Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park. Here's the video:

We drove Trail Ridge Road on Full Self Driving in our Tesla Model Y...

10/15/2026

The solution to supercharge curbside EV charging might be right above your head.

10/15/2026

Where have I heard this before? ;-)

Legacy carmakers won't likely be able to match Chinese rivals on price and may already have missed first-mover advantage on electric and software-developed vehicles, according to a report by Mobility Global.

10/14/2026

It's one thing for a consumer to get an EV. When a company, especially one as big as FedEx does it, it's because they did their cost/benefit analysis and EVs were clearly the better choice. Corporations don't make emotional decisions that cost $300M. They do the math.
If you're still anti-EV, you might want to consider this.
Just a thought.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1C6ENQZxg4/

10/13/2026

This is the beginning of of our Trail Ridge Road drive. I'll assemble all the video segments and post to YouTube soon. It was a beautiful morning, so if you're a fan of Trail Ridge Road, you'll want to play it on your TV at home.
We drove this route 5 times, over three days, using Tesla Full Self Driving (FSD). It's a winding road with sheer drop offs, so it took a little faith the first time, but I never had to touch the steering wheel or brake pedal, although I did have to occasionally press the accelerator because I wanted to accelerate faster without having it go into "Hurry" or "Mad Max" modes.

10/13/2026

Yesterday, I experienced the WORST charging experience ever. It was at an Electrify America station in Pueblo. The Pueblo Tesla chargers were all in use, which is why I went to the EA site.

I have had the EA app for years, but when I tried it yesterday, it responded that my password was wrong. (It is stored in my Apple keychain, so it wasn't an error on my part.)

When you reset your password, EA sends an email so you can reset it. I never received the email. (Yes, I checked all junk folders.) I tried this several times but zero emails.

I called the Support line listed on a sticker on the charger. It asked if I was over 65. When I responded it went into some sort of promotional recording, saying I had won something. I wanted help, not a sales pitch, so I hung up and called back.

On the second call, when it asked about my age, I changed my response to skip the sales pitch. It again went into some sort of promotional recording, saying I had won something.

Now, I was pi**ed off.

On the third call, I got through to an AI. I wanted a human EA Support person and finally got one. He said he could reset my password and did so. Then he asked, "Did you receive an email?"

You've GOT to be kidding me.

HIS METHOD ALSO REQUIRED AN EMAIL TO ME TO RESET THE PASSWORD! Again, no email was received. He asked for my email address, which I provided. He said it matched their records and tried again. No email.

I gave up and left.

This morning I woke up and thought about how incredibly dumb the email approach was, so I went to the EA website, using my laptop and, after some digging, found their "Contact Us" page. A form pops up so you can tell them what you need. I entered the info and clicked on "Send."

The image shows what popped up next.

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME, ELECTRIFY AMERICA.

10/13/2026

Today's drive started in Granby, Colorado and ended in Raton, New Mexico (about 350 miles). We recorded dash cam video of the drive from the park's west entrance to the east entrance along Trail Ridge Road. Once I get the videos pieced together, I'll post those to my YouTube channel. (https://www.youtube.com//videos)
Along the way, we stopped in Boulder to see an old friend and fellow EV salesperson/advocate Nigel Zeid.
It was great to see Nigel and we're going to have some chats about the state of the EV industry, favorite (and least favorite) things about specific EV models we've had.
I'll post these Zoom recordings, once we get them "in the can." Just in the hour we had together, we covered a lot of topics, just catching up.
It'll be spontaneous and hopefully entertaining as well as informative.
We've called ourselves "brothers from different mothers" since the first time we met and Nigel played that up a little today!

10/12/2026

This morning, we have an errand to run in Estes Park, CO., so we will be enjoying our FIFTH Full Self Driving (FSD) crossing of the Continental Divide on Trail Ridge Road.
We did the same drive, both directions, twice over the last two days. I did not have to touch the steering wheel or brake pedal at all during the previous drives.
For those unfamiliar with it, Trail Ridge Road is the highest continuous paved road in the United States, reaching an elevation of 12,183 feet (3,713 meters) in Rocky Mountain National Park. Some of it is quite steep, so on the way to the top, it sometimes appears that your EV may not have the range to make to over the Divide. But that gets paid back by the regenerative braking on the way down into Estes Park. During our first crossing, Bon was pretty quiet and stressed as she watched the charge percentage drop on the way up.
We are leaving with 38% battery state of charge (SOC). Although both the Tesla trip planning app and A Better Route Planner show that we do not NEED to charge to make it, Bonnie is uncomfortable with the battery having only 10% range left at arrival at the Tesla Supercharger in Estes Park. We'll stop at a Chargepoint CCS1 charger for 5-10 minutes to add a little comfort factor for her.
After that, we start the drive back to Fort Worth and home.

10/11/2026

I'm having a tough time updating the blog about this road trip. I'm having too much fun with Bonnie and Full Self Driving! I will have lots of photos and data for you soon, but here's the latest (as of right now):

Miles driven: 1,819

Cost of refueling (including filling up at home before leaving on the trip: $241.18
Miles Per Gallon equivalent (based on mid-grade gasoline price national average): 48*

I expected around 35 MPGe*, so this is a pleasant surprise. Around home, where I have mixed city/highway driving, my average is much higher (125 MPGe). Road trips are almost all highway driving with speeds of 65-75+ MPH.

* These MPG equivalents are so high, because gas prices are so high and electricity in Texas is relatively cheap.