Book Description
On the Trail is a memoir recounting author Alan O'Hashi's experiences trekking thousands of miles around Wyoming in an electric vehicle (EV). If you’re curious about EVs, he explains some about the different kinds of EVs in the marketplace, but more about EV charging station subtleties like suggested locations for the three types of chargers, general details about battery efficiency, and the pitfalls drivers may encounter on short trips around town and longer drives over, say, 60 miles. One of his favorite books is On the Road (1957) by Jack Kerouac. It’s a story about a personal journey and literal travel associated with freedom and unknown possibilities. The narrator and protagonist, Sal Paradise—Kerouac’s alter ego—was free to roam anywhere without being tied down to one place. The world moved slower back then. On the Trail is a reflection on O'Hashi's experience with the automobile over the years and how his life evolved along with his vehicle choices. He's not the first driver to embark on a long-haul road trip in an EV, but his story recounts his pioneering spirit having to figure out how to keep moving forward. His sojourn certainly wasn’t as arduous and rustic as it would have been in a covered wagon or a handcart. It wasn’t a mountain range he had to get through or a raging river to ford. It was more like the time in 1903 when a medical doctor named H. Nelson Jackson, an auto mechanic, Sewall Crocker, and their dog, Bud, made a cross country from California to New York in a Winton touring car. Their 63-day journey was difficult, slow, and expensive, but proved that long-haul road travel was possible. When the trio had car trouble, they sometimes had to stay at a location for several days waiting for parts to be delivered by train. Like the Jackson and Crocker trek, making the leap into an EV meant a significant lifestyle change for him, mostly around slowing down the pace of life. This account of three road trips equalling 2,600 miles around sparse Wyoming meant visiting new places and meeting others, including EV drivers and EV skeptics. One of Alan's favorite TV shows was The Adventures of Superman. It was the 1950s—1960s show starring George Reeves as the Man of Steel who could leap tall buildings in a single bound and fought for truth, justice, and the American Way. Superman’s American Way is the cultural tenet that refers to making it through life as rugged individuals, winning is better than losing, and acquiring more is better than having less. There isn’t anything inherently wrong with Superman’s American Way, but what if I reimagined it with more thoughtfulness and sensibility? If anything, EVs slow the world down. Maybe there’d be less road rage if traffic moved slower and drivers put less pressure on themselves to get from place to place. The automobile exemplifies the rugged individualistic attitude. One primary symbol of American success was and still is car ownership with prestigious sounding names that speed down the road faster than the previous model and pickup trucks that conquer mountains no matter the terrain. After some basic research about EVs he ended up impulse buying a 2021 Nissan Leaf SV Plus and took three trips around the sparsest state in the country totaling approximately 2,600 miles 62kWh at a time.
