Latest Reader Question: Tesla Saaaaaaaafety! (May 11, 2018)

Here’s the latest reader question,along with my reply!

Tom asks: How safe can it be to sit in a Tesla while it is charging? I suspect that if someone put a gauss meter inside it would go off the chart. People are concerned about even the small amount of EMF from a cell phone. It can’t be safe to expose occupants to that much EMF. If I had one (which I wouldn’t) I’d stand away from it while charging. Tesla charging stations are becoming a common site. Usually a number of them lined up with no or maybe one Tesla plugged in. The owner often toasting inside. How pleasant would that waiting to charge be if the owner had to stand far away, rather than napping inside?

My reply: I’m more concerned about the idiocy of people queuing up for 30-45 minutes to recover 80 percent charge. But perhaps I am dull and someone will explain it to me. How it is an improvement over being able to refill a non-electric car’s gas tank to full in 5 minutes.

I haven’t even touched on logistics. On what will happen when (if) electric cars ever become more than a small percentage of the total number of cars on the road. It’s one thing when there are just a few of them running around proportionate to the number of charging stations available. And when most of the people driving them are the kinds of people who either don’t mind the wait or can accommodate it to their schedules.

But what happens when/if there are millions of electric cars and all of a sudden people are waiting to wait at those charging stations? Imagine the lines that would form at gas stations if all of a sudden it took each car 30-45 minutes to gas up. The multiplying effect on delays would be staggering. It would shut down transportation – or make it very, very slow.

Maybe the EMF is affecting people’s ability to think…

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Got a question about cars – or anything else? Click on the “ask Eric” link and send ’em in!