Energy Secretary Blocks Family From Using EV Charger

Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm set on a four-day electric-vehicle road trip this summer to push the propaganda of forcing everyone to use electric vehicles to stop global warming. Of course her entourage discovered what everyone else that has attempted long trips with electric vehicles has learned: there aren't enough electrical charging stations. So, to make sure that Granholm's wouldn't be inconvenienced by having to wait in line for a charging station, her staff (using a gas powered vehicle, of course, because our elites are hypocrites) blocked off a charging station to prevent commoners from using it. One family was so upset that they wound up calling police about the situation.

    Now if it has been a Republican official doing the same, the story spread by the media would have been about evil, arrogant Republicans. But because it is a Democrat, the media spin is about how much we need EVs and how terrible that there aren't enough charging station. For instance, from NPR:

    When Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm set out on a four-day electric-vehicle road trip this summer, she knew charging might be a challenge. But she probably didn't expect anyone to call the cops.

    Granholm's trip through the southeast, from Charlotte, N.C., to Memphis, Tenn., was intended to draw attention to the billions of dollars the White House is pouring into green energy and clean cars. The administration's ambitious energy agenda, if successful, could significantly cut U.S. emissions and reshape Americans' lives in fundamental ways, including by putting many more people in electric vehicles.

    On town hall stops along her road trip, Granholm made a passionate, optimistic case for this transition. She often put up a photo of New York City in 1900, full of horses and carriages, with a single car. Then another slide: "Thirteen years later, same street. All these cars. Can you spot the horse?"

    One horse was in the frame.

    "Things are happening fast. You are in the center of it. Imagine how big clean energy industries will be in 13 years," she told one audience in South Carolina. "How much stronger our economy is going to grow. How many good-paying jobs we're going to create — and where we are going to lead the world." 

So, 5 paragraphs into the story and, while noting that cops were called in the lede, nothing about Granholm keeping the peasants away from a charging station she wanted to use. Finally, in the 11th paragraph:

Her advance team realized there weren't going to be enough plugs to go around. One of the station's four chargers was broken, and others were occupied. So an Energy Department staffer tried parking a nonelectric vehicle by one of those working chargers to reserve a spot for the approaching secretary of energy.

 Oh no! Notice the use of the word "try"--there was no "try", her staff actually blocked the charging station. The article continues:

    That did not go down well: a regular gas-powered car blocking the only free spot for a charger?

    In fact, a family that was boxed out — on a sweltering day, with a baby in the vehicle — was so upset they decided to get the authorities involved: They called the police.

    The sheriff's office couldn't do anything. It's not illegal for a non-EV to claim a charging spot in Georgia. Energy Department staff scrambled to smooth over the situation, including sending other vehicles to slower chargers, until both the frustrated family and the secretary had room to charge.

So Granholm's staff didn't move the vehicle to let the family charge: they just shuffled other drivers around until the family had a charging spot. The rest of the story is about how terrible it is that there aren't more charging stations and the ones out there are slow and unreliable (except for Tesla which actually invested money to build charging stations--apparently the other EV companies are waiting for the government to pay for the stations but several have finally given in and started adopting Tesla charging technology). Not a word about the arrogance of Granholm and her staff.