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National Parks
Electric Road Trip
Lessons from our Electric Road Trip to the National Parks
From April to October 2022, we journeyed nearly 27,000 miles on an electric road trip to all 51 National Parks in the Lower 48 states. We believe we are the…
Interview with Bob and Kathy from RunningOnSouler
Interview with Bob and Kathy from RunningOnSouler And Their Six-Month Electric Road Trip to All 51 National Parks in the Lower 48 States Tell us something about the two of…
Donate to the National Park Foundation
An electric road trip to all 51 National Parks in the Lower-48 States: what better way to combine two of our favorite things! If we can go to all the…
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Lessons from our Electric Road Trip to the National Parks
From April to October 2022, we journeyed nearly 27,000 miles on an electric road trip to all 51 National Parks in the Lower 48 states. We believe we are the first ones to do that circuit in an electric vehicle—perhaps the only ones. The trip was an experience of a lifetime. The parks were magnificent.…
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Interview with Bob and Kathy from RunningOnSouler
Interview with Bob and Kathy from RunningOnSouler And Their Six-Month Electric Road Trip to All 51 National Parks in the Lower 48 States Tell us something about the two of you: We are recently retired. Many of our vacations over the years when our three boys were growing up were spent on trips to…
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Observations from the First 10 National Parks on the Electric Road Trip
At this point, we have traveled to 10 of the 51 National Parks in the Lower 48 states on our electric road trip. That’s about 20 percent of the parks in 13 percent of the 27 weeks we will be on the road. We will spend more time at each park from now on as…
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10. Hot Springs, April 30-May 2
Leaving St. Louis on April 30 with a full charge—thanks to the Destination Charger we enjoyed during our visit to Gateway Arch—we headed south and west through Missouri and Arkansas for our next National Park, Hot Springs, the 10th stop on our electric road trip to all 51 National Parks in the Lower 48 states.…
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9. Gateway Arch, April 29-30
Leaving Bowling Green on April 29 with a full charge—thanks to the Destination Charger we enjoyed during our visit to Mammoth Cave—we headed north and west through Kentucky, Indiana, and, briefly, Illinois to the next stop on our electric road trip to all 51 National Parks in the Lower 48 states, the Gateway Arch in…
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8. Mammoth Cave, April 27-29
Leaving Berry Springs Lodge B&B on April 27 with a full charge—thanks to the Destination Charger we enjoyed during our visit to Great Smoky Mountains—we headed west and north through Tennessee to Kentucky and the next stop on our electric road trip to all 51 National Parks in the Lower 48 states, Mammoth Cave. Mammoth…
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7. Great Smoky Mountains, April 23-27
After watching the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on April 21st, we traveled through northern Florida to Georgia, with a stop in Atlanta on Earth Day, April 22, on the way north to Great Smoky Mountains, the next stop on our electric road trip to all 51 National Parks in the Lower 48…
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5 & 6. Biscayne and Everglades, April 16-20
On the morning of April 16, we left Key West, continuing our electric road trip to all 51 National Parks in the Lower 48 states. We headed back up the Florida Keys to Homestead, which would be our base for visits to the other two National Parks in southern Florida: Everglades at the southern tip…
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4. Dry Tortugas, April 14-16
After cutting short our visit to the flooded Congaree National Park, we left Columbia, South Carolina, on the morning of April 12th to head south on I-26 and I-95 to the three National Parks in southern Florida. Florida is a long state, measuring about 400 miles from Jacksonville in the north to the Keys at…
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3. Congaree, April 11-12
Leaving New River Gorge National Park on April 11th, we traveled south on I-77 to the third park on our electric road trip: Congaree National Park, near Columbia, South Carolina. Established as Congaree Swamp National Preserve in 1975, Congaree became a National Park in 2003. With about 146,000 annual visitors, the park preserves the…
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2. New River Gorge, April 9-11
Leaving Shenandoah National Park on April 9th, we enjoyed a quiet drive south on a snow-dusted Skyline Drive on the way to our next park, New River Gorge. After exiting Skyline Drive, we traveled further south on I-81 and then west on I-64, and finally north on Route 19 to Fayetteville, West Virginia, the gateway…
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1. Shenandoah, April 8-9
After months of planning our road trip to all 51 National Parks in an electric car, we launched our adventure from our home in Alexandria on the morning of April 8th. We packed our Tesla Model Y, Elliot, with six months of equipment for our electric road trip to all 51 National Parks in the…
Electric Vehicles and Souler Energy
Are Electric Vehicles Really Zero Emissions?
For many of us who were early adopters of electric vehicles, protecting the environment is an important motivation—to eliminate carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels that cause climate change…
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“Electrify” Book Report
It’s back to school season, so it’s time for book reports. This one is about one of the most important books I have read in a while—Electrify, by Saul Griffith, an Australian-American who earned his PhD from MIT. This is a book I recommend to everyone. It’s a little nerdy, but also accessible. It describes…
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Ask an EV Owner Anything: Interview with Evie and Ice
RunningOnSouler recently sponsored an Ask An EV Owner Anything Interview, with Evie and Ice. During the interview, there were questions from Ice, the owner of a vehicle powered by a gasoline-fueled internal combustion engine car, with answers from Evie, an electric vehicle owner. This was an opportunity for Ice to ask Evie anything and everything…
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The Great Gas Stove Controversy of 2023 and Going Electric with Induction Cooktops
With some trepidation, RunningOnSouler wades into the treacherous waters known as The Great Gas Stove Controversy of 2023. This is an opportunity to examine our collective love affair with one of the last survivors of the fossil fuel era—ranges that use natural gas to fuel the burners on the stovetop. It is also a chance…
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Electrifying Home Heating with an Energy-Efficient Ground-Source Heat Pump
Ground-source heat pumps are one of the most energy efficient systems for heating and cooling a home. We don’t have one in our home, but our friend Martin installed one in his new home in suburban Maryland. So we made a trip to visit Martin’s home and interview him on his experience with the system.…
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Electrifying our Hot Water Heater with a Hybrid Heat-Pump
Two of our favorite things are long hot showers and high-tech gadgets. What do those two things have in common? You can get them both with an electric hybrid heat-pump water heater. Our new Rheem Performance Platinum hybrid unit from Home Depot uses heat pump technology to significantly cut energy costs—about half that of a…
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Test Ride in a Proterra Electric Bus
On December 14, I took a test ride in a Proterra electric bus being demonstrated by the Arlington Transit System (ART). The Proterra bus was the first of four buses being tested to assess the efficiency of Zero Emission Buses on transit routes, battery life and range, and customer and operator feedback. In addition to…
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How Long Do Electric Vehicle Batteries Last?
Most of us have grown up with cars powered by internal combustion engines. They are remarkable feats of engineering, derived from decades of automotive experience and advancement. Modern cars are extremely reliable and need only minimal maintenance. We expect them to get us to work or our travel destinations without incident, and we expect them…
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How Much Range Is Enough for Electric Vehicles?
The median range of gasoline-fueled cars in the United States is about 400 miles, and many of us expect our vehicles to drive most of the day without having to refuel. Can electric vehicles live up to that range standard? Do they need to? How much range is enough depends on your needs. It depends…
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How Long Does It Take to Charge an Electric Vehicle?
People who haven’t yet made the transition to electric vehicles typically cite three challenges that cause them to hold onto their gasoline-powered cars: range, availability of chargers, and the time it takes to charge an electric car. On the issue of charging time, people hear estimates of several hours to charge an EV on household…
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How Easy is it to Find Charging Stations?
We’re all accustomed to the ubiquitous nature of gasoline stations. They’re all around town, and we expect to find them at every highway exit. But most people have little or no awareness of the availability of electric vehicle charging stations. Some might have seen Tesla Superchargers at highway rest stops, or chargers from other companies…
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Electric Lawn Mowers
The future is electric. But if you doubt the superiority of machines powered by electric motors rather than internal combustion engines, look no further for confirmation than electric lawn mowers. A few years ago, I bought an EGO electric lawn mower from Home Depot. At a price of $500, it was a little more expensive than a…