by Gabrielle DeSantis

Joe Biden’s plan to have half of new car sales be zero emissions by 2030 is a lofty, but possible ambition. Automakers are already shifting to electric cars, with plans to eliminate gas engines within the coming years. But the one aspect that can’t seem to keep up is public charging stations. Without enough of them, the hopes of a net-zero emissions future are far-fetched.

Not everyone can purchase an electric car right now

There are fewer reasons for someone not to buy an electric car now than there were 10 years ago, when the tech was brand new. But that doesn’t mean everyone can. For starters, a lot of once-affordable electric cars are about to become much more expensive, as electric car tax credits expire. The first 200k electric cars automakers built would get the $7,500 price slash, but after that, they’re base price.

However, from a logistics standpoint, not everyone has the means to own an electric car. People say that electric cars are great because you can park them and charge them overnight, but this is assuming a couple of things. For starters, it assumes people have a charger in their garage. But on top of that, it assumes people have a garage.

According to the National Apartment Association, one in eight Americans live in an apartment. That’s 39 million people in total who, simply put, can’t get electric car chargers yet. Some apartment complexes may have a dozen or so charging stations, but that isn’t enough to meet our future emissions goals. On top of that, many people simply park on the street, and installing a car charger for every spot would cost billions of dollars.

Nick Nigro spoke to The New York Times about how $7.5 billion is just laying the groundwork for electric car charging stations. “Is it sufficient? No. But it gets things going,” he said. And that money would need to go toward more charging stations if we want consumers to make the switch.

RELATED: Where Do Charging Stations Get Their Power?

We have a lot of charging stations, but need a lot more

Each automaker is investing in its own electric car charging network. There’s Volkswagen with the Electrify America program, or Tesla with the largest DC fast-charging network in the world. And scattered around are individual companies, such as Charge Point. And while they have the largest network of public chargers in the country, adding up to almost 70,000 stations, we’re far from where we need to be.

The nation has around 120,000 chargers, and there are plenty more on the way. But in order to get to a point where there are enough chargers to go around, experts predict there have to be at least 10 times more chargers available. Building those would cost tens of billions of dollars, more than what lawmakers are willing to spend. And to large businesses, building charging stations right now feels like money wasted more than money well spent.

For charging companies across the country, the bulk of revenue doesn’t come from the charging stations themselves, but from investors. If electric car charging stations were truly raking in the green, you’d see big oil companies like Exxon Mobil converting their pumps. But that’s just not the case yet.

Gas cars are still far more profitable

Think of it this way: electric cars make up 1% of every car on American roads today. If you’re a big business, you want to invest in the future, but as of right now establishing a vast electric car charging network would cost a lot more than you’d make. And it’d take years before companies going this route ever break even. But despite automaker’s electric car timelines and pledges from the president, EV sales aren’t growing all that fast, and gas cars aren’t going anywhere.

You have to remember that, even if 50% of new car sales are electric, there will be a lot of used cars and older cars that run on dinosaur juice. The New York Times even calculates that, if we had 60% of new car sales go electric by 2050, only 42% of cars on the road would be EVs. That’s in 30 years, and gas cars are still set to be tooling around unless it became mandatory to get rid of gasoline cars. And while I’m not opposed to a shift to EVs, I doubt taking away gas cars by force would go over well.

There are many reasons why you shouldn’t expect electric cars to take over the globe, despite how many we’re producing. Electric car technologies are amazing, and they’re better for the planet in the long run, they’re still a long way away from the net-zero emissions future we’re all hoping for.

RELATED: The Difference Between Zero-Emissions and Carbon-Neutral

The post Electric Car Charging Stations Aren’t Being Built Fast Enough: Here’s Why appeared first on MotorBiscuit.

by Gabrielle DeSantis

There’s an awful lot of steps to properly maintaining your car, and it can be incredibly overwhelming. So to break it down, let’s talk about just one aspect: tire maintenance. You might not think of them much, but truth be told, tires are extremely important. They keep you glued to the asphalt, and are fairly easy to keep tabs on in order to prolong their life and save you money.

Determining the right tire pressure, putting air in them, and checking tread depth

Perhaps one of the easiest parts of automotive maintenance is making sure your tires are properly filled with air. It may also be the cheapest, considering some gas stations offer air pumps free of charge. Though, you can also keep a $20 12-volt air compressor in your car so that, at any point, you can top them off with air. But I’m getting slightly ahead of myself.

If you own a relatively new car, then figuring out how much air you need to put in the tires is simple. Step one, open the driver’s side door. Step two, look for a sticker with all the information on it. You’ll see the recommended pressure in pounds per square inch (or PSI) for both the front and rear.

Now, it’s incredibly important that you fill it to the right amount. Overinflating your tires risks punctures, hinders your car’s handling and causes uneven tire wear. Underinflating, while a decent practice for offroading, also murders your miles per gallon.

From there, filling your tires with an air compressor is a sinch. Unscrew the cap on each rim, screw the air compressor in, push the button, and listen to it whir. Don’t expect to be perfect either. If you’re off by a PSI or two, it’s not going to ruin your car, or even put you at risk. Just get as close as possible.

If you thought filling your tires with air was easy, just wait until you check the tread depth. All you need is a penny, which you simply stick in the rubber of the wheel. Then, look to honest Abe Lincoln. If it looks like he’s getting a haircut, you’re all set. And if he could use a trim, then you may want to consider new ones.

RELATED: Common Tire Types And Ideas For Aftermarket Tire Upgrades

Rotating your tires is an often overlooked aspect of car maintenance

Checking your rubber and changing it when the need arises is important for tire maintenance. But what’s more important, and often missed, is routinely having your tires rotated. It’s important to do this, as it spreads out the wear, allowing them to last longer. After all, you want to hang onto your rubber as long as you (safely) can since new tires are expensive.

You can take your car to any mechanic and they’ll be able to do this for you. In fact, if you go to a dealer, they often rotate your tires every time you get your oil changed. The recommended interval for rotating your tires is every 5,000 to 7,000 miles, which comes up fast if you go on frequent road trips.

And while you can take the car to a mechanic, rotating your tires is a fairly easy job to do on your own. The equipment required get’s a bit expensive, however. You’ll need is a floor jack and four jack stands, a breaker bar, a torque wrench, and sockets that fit your rim’s lug nuts. That’ll run you a couple of hundred dollars, and you don’t want to be a cheapskate when it comes to safety equipment.

How you go about rotating your tires depends on what kind of car you drive. Bridgestone explains that, if it’s a front-wheel-drive car, you’ll perform a forward cross, shifting the front tires to the back, and crossing the back tires to the front. If your car is 4-wheel, all-wheel, or rear-wheel drive, you’ll likely use a rearward cross. And if you drive a light FWD truck, you may use an X pattern, where every tire is crossed.

Be sure to consult your owner’s manual and the internet before rotating tires yourself, or performing any sort of maintenance. And tighten those lug nuts to the manufacturer’s recommended torque spec, which you should also be able to find online.

RELATED: Why You Should Never Buy a Tire Based on Its Warranty

If your rubber is causing you trouble, there are a few things you can do

Realizing your rubber might be slightly defective while in motion is a scary thought, but take a breath, because there are a couple of ways to diagnose and solve the problem. Two common problems are improperly balanced tires or improperly aligned wheels, both of which can affect your car’s handling. Here’s how to spot and solve each one.

If you notice uneven wear on your tires or feel harsh vibrations while in motion, they may need to be balanced. Determining where you feel the vibrations can help technicians find which ones need to be balanced. If you’ve parked the car for a long period of time, it may also cause flat spots on the tread, which can be solved by balancing the tire. Though, in extreme cases, you may be better off replacing the rubber altogether.

If, however, you notice your car veering off to one side, that might not be a problem caused by your tires. Instead, you’re looking at improper wheel alignment, where the steering wheel isn’t pointed straight when the car is. Other symptoms of improper alignment include vibrations through the steering wheel and tire squealing (when you’re not trying to burn rubber). This is a more expensive repair, but worthwhile if you want to prevent them from wearing out unevenly

Taking care of your tires is one of the many steps in creating a proper maintenance schedule. And maintaining your car is a large chunk of the responsibilities in car ownership. But the more proactive you are, the better of you and your car will be in the long run.

RELATED: Here’s Why Driving on a Flat Tire Is the Worst Idea

The post Here’s Everything You Need to Know About Tire Maintenance appeared first on MotorBiscuit.