Another reason to go EV - dirty gas pump handles

Apparently, gas pump handles are the filthiest surfaces those without an EV encounter on a routine basis:

http://news.yahoo.com/gas-pump-handles-top-study-filthy-surfaces-040616533.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This is bad news for anyone in the habit of licking gasoline pump handles... Be aware that Kimberly-Clark makes janitorial supplies, including Kleenex hand sanitizer and Scott brand disinfectant wipes.

I've not been able to find the actual study anywhere, but considering that virtually all "science journalism" is in fact sensationalist garbage filtered through multiple levels of dumbing-down and misinterpretation by people who know nothing of actual science - conceptual or practical - I'd sooner dismiss this article as a thinly veiled scarevertizement.

Of course I wash my hands as soon as possible after visiting the gas station - usually because my hands smell like gasoline. Unless there's some new strain of necrotizing fasciitis going around or I find myself in some equatorial squalor of a country I'm not going to worry about germs on the doorknobs. :|
=Smidge=

Is there any reason to believe that EV public charger handles are not eventually going to be every bit as filthy?

mwalsh said:

Apparently, gas pump handles are the filthiest surfaces those without an EV encounter on a routine basis:
http://news.yahoo.com/gas-pump-handles-top-study-filthy-surfaces-040616533.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Well at least the gas fumes and occasionally spilled gasoline will sanitize the handles. Seriously, though. I'd be surprised if much bacteria could live for very long on those since they are exposed to the elements and either kept frozen half the year or roasted the other half. Rare for there to be much moisture (at least in the form of H20) and most are made of metal.

adric22 said:

I'd be surprised if much bacteria could live for very long on those since they are exposed to the elements and either kept frozen half the year or roasted the other half. Rare for there to be much moisture (at least in the form of H20) and most are made of metal.

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Surprise! Yes, they can live on them a long time and if you read or saw the report you will see that the researches found some really nasty bacteria and viruses. However, this isn't a good reason to switch to EVs. My wife carries hand sanitizer and uses it RIGHT after using the gas pumps.

adric22 said:

Well at least the gas fumes and occasionally spilled gasoline will sanitize the handles.

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Pee on the handles, its biodegradable and usually sterile.. and most of us carry a ready supply at all times. Dont pee on the handle of a charger, you might be surprised

I try to avoid $1 bills, too. Can you imagine where people put those things?

TomT said:

Is there any reason to believe that EV public charger handles are not eventually going to be every bit as filthy?

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That's why I charge at home!

That which does not kill us makes us stronger.

Friedrich Nietzsche

gascant said:

I try to avoid $1 bills, too. Can you imagine where people put those things?

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Well, if they have been placed in the bikini string of a really hot stripper, I guess that isn't so bad.

I used a gas pump for the first time in 4 months - to fill a rental car. I had only driven about 100 miles, it was a small econo-car (Ford Fiesta), and gas was cheap, so it didn't cost much. But that same money would have taken my much larger, much more powerful, and much more comfortable Leaf well over 700 miles. It only took a few minutes to scan my credit card, enter my zip code, turn on the pump, and fill the tank. But it was many times longer, standing in freezing rain, than it takes me to plug in at home in my nice warm garage. Do you remember what you used to put up with before you went electric?

adric22 said:

gascant said:

I try to avoid $1 bills, too. Can you imagine where people put those things?

Click to expand...

Well, if they have been placed in the bikini string of a really hot stripper, I guess that isn't so bad.

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True dat!

During the last few months of waiting for the LEAF, I grew resentful of having to stop at gas stations. Even with the Prius, I was there once a week.