Electric Vehicles in Rural Communities
Those who live in or near large cities enjoy ready access to public and private transportation, where bus, rail, taxi and ride share options are plentiful. But for smaller communities, getting around can be a real challenge. Well, we recently visited one Texas town that has found a smart, clean solution for shrinking this big problem.
Bastrop, Texas, is located about 30 miles southeast of Austin. It covers nine square miles and is home to around 9000 people. It’s a pleasant place to live or visit, on the edge of Texas hill country with the Colorado river passing nearby; a thriving main street downtown and a relaxed vibe all around.
Typical of small towns in the area, there are no city buses or subways here. Carts, the capital area rural transportation system, offers low-cost van rides for folks to get around within the city limits, or to connect with regional transit options.
And since December of 2019, Bastrop has collaborated with the lone star clean fuels alliance and e-cabs of North America to provide a cost-free and emissions-free micro-transit ride service using GEM low-speed battery electric vehicles. The US Department of Energy funded this two-year pilot project to explore how well these low-speed EV’s could meet a rural community’s first- and last-mile transit needs.
The GEMs carry 5 passengers and can legally travel on roads with speed limits up to 45 miles per hour, though the cabs themselves top out at 25. They can sustain 3 to 4 hours of continuous duty per charge.
E-cabs operates on evenings and weekends, and covers a limited area surrounding downtown Bastrop, but there are no pre-determined routes. It’s all on-demand and on the rider’s schedule, and these things stay busy! They also offer a para-transport option with a foldaway accessibility ramp.
The system allows riders to request electric cab service through a phone call or a mobile app. The e-cab driver is alerted immediately, and pickup time is typically fifteen minutes or less.
Bastrop mayor Connie Schroeder is a frequent rider, and she knows a thing or two about riding in style!
MAYOR CONNIE SCHROEDER: It doesn’t matter if you’re in a small town or a big town, you need to be able to get around. Everybody needs to go to the post office, go to a doctor, maybe get something to eat, and that last mile can be extremely hard. It can be hard if you don’t have a vehicle, it can be hard if you’re elderly.
JOHN DAVIS: Frequently taking the place of larger conventional vehicles, the system’s electric vehicles translate into lower per-trip fuel consumption and emissions. Bastrop’s e-cabs are re-charged using electricity from the Texas grid, which relies on one of the country’s highest proportions of renewable energy sources.
Nationwide, adoption of electric vehicles has lagged in rural areas when compared to urban markets. The hope is that the electric shuttles can increase comfort and familiarity with EV technology in the community, and could lead to greater interest in electric vehicle ownership, too.
CHRIS NIELSEN: This is a good idea because it’s incredibly inexpensive to operate, it’s efficient, the people like it. We have a lot of traction, and we’ve been adopted by the community here. And we’re a part of it now, and this has happened everywhere that we’ve deployed.
JOHN DAVIS: The e-cabs are bringing new mobility options to the citizens of Bastrop, and showing that even a small town can set a big example for clean transportation.
MAYOR CONNIE SCHROEDER: They take care of the environment, they’re convenient, they’re easy, and there isn’t anything better than waving to your friends when you’re in a free e-cab ride.
Electric Nation
Electric vehicle charging is now readily available in most areas of the country and along major travel routes, but many smaller communities find themselves behind the clean energy curve when it comes to EV infrastructure. Well, here’s a look at one group that’s banding together to help create an electric nation.
The upper Midwest inter-tribal EV charging community network, which the project team named Electric Nation, is an EV infrastructure project serving tribal members on 23 Native American reservations across five states. Aided by U.S. Department of Energy funding, this public-private partnership will introduce 60 level 2 chargers, along with 19 light- and medium-duty plug-in electric vehicles, directly into these communities, empowering them to expand their fuel diversity and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
ROBERT BLAKE: It always seems that these communities are always last to receive this type of investment. How do rural communities participate in this energy transition? Well, this is a perfect opportunity for rural communities to be a part of that transition.
JOHN DAVIS: Electric Nation chose their plug-in vehicles carefully, closely matching each one’s range and capabilities to their intended use. Sitting Bull College, in the Standing Rock nation of North Dakota, uses this Ford E-Transit to shuttle students between campus and local destinations. Traveling about 140 miles daily closely matches the van’s range, and allows it to recharge fully overnight.
Two new electric school buses will clear the air for Red Lake, Minnesota students, who often spend hours aboard for their daily school commutes. This family and child services office in Red Lake nation is now using electric vehicles to transport individuals around the region for appointments, and deliver meals to elder residents. Boosting economic development for these traditionally disadvantaged areas is equally important.
Vehicles and chargers deployed at key businesses like the Red Lake fishery, trading post and even a buffalo farm, will enable them to stay competitive by reducing fuel costs and to work clean at the same time. Miles and miles of gravel farm roads are the norm around these parts, so the F-150 Lightning will be especially useful here.
The Electric Nation project is building on the idea of the National Alternative Fuel Corridors, where designated highways, now covering parts of all 50 states, are populated with EV chargers, and clean fuel stations for natural gas, propane and hydrogen.
Linking the tribal lands across this vast midwestern landscape will be 55 DC fast chargers on popular travel corridors and along tourist routes like the Native American Scenic Byway in South Dakota, and at several tribal casinos.
ROBERT BLAKE: A lot of tribal nations, through our cultural teachings, have a connection to the planet and to the environment, and so being able to reduce our need for fossil fuels is something that speaks to our cultural heritage.
JOHN DAVIS: The Electric Nation project is analyzing how these electric vehicles perform, especially in extreme cold weather, and includes EV education, outreach and engagement so that the successes here can be replicated in other parts of the country.
It seems only fitting that those with the longest ties to our natural history are taking the biggest strides towards a clean future.