Driving an electric vehicle to Alaska; it can be done

University of Alaska Fairbanks history professor Phil Wight acquired a used Chevy Bolt EV in the Midwest for $22,000, with plans to drive 4,300 miles to Fairbanks from Ohio, accompanied by his father.

In the first of a two-part series published by the Network in Canadian History & Environment, Wight deals with the easy part—Cincinnati to Calgary.

“Beyond Calgary the trip became very mountainous, with far fewer chargers. How did the EV handle the mountainous roads? How was it possible to charge on the famously remote and infrastructure-scarce Alaska Highway?”

Wight did make it to Fairbanks, but for all the details, you’ll have to wait for Part 2, to be posted later this week.

“I found a used 2019 Chevy Bolt with 46,000 miles and a brand-new 66 kwh battery for just under $22,000. Best of all, the new battery pack came with an additional 27 miles range and an 8-year, 100,000 mile warranty—it was as though I had purchased a new car.”

“From the very inception of the trip, people within the electric vehicle community were exceptionally supportive. Tim Treuer, an Alaskan who had made a similar journey from Vermont to Alaska in 2020, provided a detailed spreadsheet of all the RV sites and chargers along the remote Alaska Highway. A Reddit user on the Chevy Bolt forum sent me his level 1 charging cord after I explained that mine hadn’t come with one (I found it absurd that a dealer would sell an EV without a basic charger). I offered to pay for shipping but he declined, replying: “Welcome to the EV community.” Kirk Martakis of Cantwell, Alaska served as both an exemplar (he demonstrated that an EV worked just fine at -30 Fahrenheit/ -34 Celsius) and supporter when he gifted me a vital level two charging cable for use at RV sites.”

What I found the most interesting about this article are the practical details about finding chargers, how they work and problems to deal with along the way, which come up on any road trip.

•After taking the Oath of Office Monday, Gov. Mike Dunleavy mentioned the Titanic, not the best ship to mention as he begins the voyage of his second term. Addressing Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, he said, “You know Nancy if I was on the Titanic, which I’m glad I never was and hopefully never will be, I’d want you there with me. Not because I want you to go down with me, but we’d figure something out on how to save ourselves and save the other people on the ship.”

•The Anchorage Daily News had a good editorial on the second Dunleavy administration, mentioning the chaos and dysfunction that led to the recall campaign in the first Dunleavy administration. “He would be wise to avoid the kind of needless provocations that characterized the beginning of his first term, especially because bipartisan majority caucuses look very likely to be governing both houses of the Alaska Legislature—one has already organized in the Senate; the near-even split in the House has made the math there more difficult no matter who’s in charge. It’s true that the governor was overwhelmingly reelected, but Alaskans also sent one of the most moderate Legislatures in decades to Juneau.”

•The Fairbanks News-Miner had a good summary of what we might see from the Senate bipartisan majority: “Given the gridlock on both the national and state level that radiated from partisan roadblocks, a group of diverse, moderate, elected officials working together for Alaska is a refreshing change.”

•Reporter Nat Herz explains in the Northern Journal blog why the evenly divided state House won’t be easy to organize.

•From the Washington Post: “Donald Trump’s suggestion this weekend that the U.S. Constitution should be terminated in response to his baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen drew a largely muted response from Republicans, the latest sign that many GOP officials remain reluctant to take on the former president . . .” On Sunday, Sen. Lisa Murkowski said: “Suggesting the termination of the Constitution is not only a betrayal of our Oath of Office, it’s an affront to our republic.”

Sen. Dan Sullivan was among the GOP muted majority until Monday night, when his office sent the ADN a prepared statement after heavy national news coverage about GOP senators staying silent: “As both a United States Senator and a U.S. Marine, I have taken an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution,” he said. “Like all those who serve and have served in the military, I’ve been willing to fight and die to defend our Constitution and to fulfill this oath. Any suggestion that the Constitution can be discarded is ridiculous.”