FloodVision: Edge of America Tour

June 7, 2024. It's already day 6 of the Edge of America Tour. Two states down, eighteen to go. Max greets the day in Salem, Massachusetts, and drives inland to Peabody to charge FloodRover II.

Now might be an excellent time to discuss the trials and tribulations of driving an electric Ford F-150 Lightning along the coastal byways of America. Part of creating the Edge of America Tour route involves not just finding places that flood, but finding fast chargers for Max to power up the FloodRover. The FloodVision data collection equipment does drain the truck's electrical reserves, more so, say than charging a cell phone on a normal daily commute. That means Max has become an expert at finding fast chargers at hotels, restaurants, and retail locations. But even when he finds them, sometimes they don't work. Or his charging app doesn't connect. He's been issued a warning by an ornery mall security guard while charging in the early morning hours. And on this particular sunny June day, Max made a heart-stopping discovery that one shouldn't charge the FloodRover while also running the data collection equipment.

Max is just one of the nation's many EV drivers navigating America's roads, looking for fast EV chargers. But expansion is picking up: The U.S. added 704 new public fast-charging stations for electric cars in April, May, and June of this year, bringing the nation's total to nearly 9,000. That's an  increase of 9%  in just three months, according to a Bloomberg Green analysis of Department of Energy  data . At the current pace, public fast-charging sites will outnumber gas stations in the US in about eight years. And, to the project’s benefit, Tesla opened its charging infrastructure to Ford EVs right before Max hit the road in June, which greatly expanded the fast charging options. Beyond not spewing carbon pollution, the transition to EV cars and trucks improves our air quality and health, potentially saving as many as 165,000 lives by the middle of the century. To find out how many lives can be saved in your state from the switch to electric vehicles, and other cool EV facts, you can read this  Climate Central report .

Massachusetts: 1,519 miles of coastline and a huge population at risk. Did you know that more than half (53%) of all Massachusetts residents live in coastal communities? That means that up to a half million people living along the Massachusetts coast are facing risk to their properties and communities from accelerating sea level rise and storm surges. In the map below, we take a look at what these Massachusetts communities could look like during a storm by the end of this century, if we continue on our emissions path and if we don't implement resilience or adaptation efforts.

Massachusetts could see sea level rise by up to 2.5 feet by 2050 if global emissions aren't dramatically reduced, potentially affecting the state's salt marshes, beaches, ports and harbors, as well as thousands of homes and businesses. In 2023, the state released a  comprehensive strategy  to plan for and adapt to the coming hazards, and their Office of Coastal Management has a  sea level rise and coastal flooding viewer  that provides users with various maps and scenarios see where the waters will rise.

NEXT EPISODE: Max drives the FloodRover through Boston!