EV in a hurricane evacuation

[daverp]

What channel was that story on? I would question the political motivations of that story. First it would totally ignore the fact that there are massive backups at gas stations, those backups have already started. In these big storms gas stations often run out of gas. Second roll your windows down and turn off the climate control and an EV uses very little energy. Third EV are very efficient at lower speeds, ICE is least efficient in stop and go.

With that being said EV or ICE don't wait to the last minute to flee, that's usually where people get into trouble. If I lived in a hurricane area I would have a backup plan. Have a portable L2 EVSE, know where camp grounds are on your route. Most camp grounds will happily charge you the day rate so you can charge off a 50amp rv outlet for 6 - 12 hours.

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[breeves002]

The main issue is being in areas around the pan handle and maybe rural Georgia where there really isn't many charging stations. Back in 2017 some people went about 400-500 miles, so its a 1,000 round trip.

Who drives 500 miles for a hurricane evacuation? No reason at all to go that far. I guess if you have family or something, but then you're not going to drive an EV to do that or you're picking a closer destination. My dad lives in south Houston and they're roughly 50 miles from the coast. If they have a bad hurricane coming they drive the ~140 miles to Austin where my uncle lives. Even in extreme traffic for hours a fully charged mach E would make that drive no problem unless it is extremely cold. It doesn't get very cold down there most of the time to even make that a worry.

 

[mjs020294]

Who drives 500 miles for a hurricane evacuation? No reason at all to go that far. .

If you're in south or central Florida and the hurricane path is potentially straight up the State and into Georgia you have to go 500 miles. People are evacuating for a few days with children and pets so they also want to find accommodation. I personally know a lot of people that evacuated from the Tampa area in 2017 that went north of Atlanta.

If the last two years should have taught us anything its the entire supply chain is very fragile. That goes for everything from fuel, food and accommodations. If the number of people traveling north out of Florida increases by a relatively small percentage above normal levels everything goes to shit pretty quick.

 

[ChasingCoral]

I'm in South Florida and have evacuated North into GA/AL before. I've had issues getting gas on the way back due to no gas trucks running right before/during/after the storm. If I had to evacuate, I'd be at 100% when leaving and then charge at my bug-out destination via hotel charger. I do have the extended range, so I worry less than some, but you could always slow down to 65 on the highway to improve range if you were really concerned.

Depending on evacuation traffic, 65mph may be an aspiration!

 

[mjs020294]

What channel was that story on? I would question the political motivations of that story.

First three words on the thread are the weather channel. To the best of my knowledge they don't have a political biased. They are pretty big on climate change that is for sure.

 

[mjs020294]

Depending on evacuation traffic, 65mph may be an aspiration!

6.5 mph is more accurate in 2017 is anything to go by.

 

[kkgg]

All you have to have is the cable and I think any homeowner will be okay to let the car charge from their home (considering the situation). right

 

[dtbaker61]

The weather channel just did a piece on the issues with EVs for anyone evacuating hurricane Ian. If you get stuck in traffic or end up in a charging dead zone an EV could be a huge liability. For instance a few years ago tens of thousands of people evacuated towards Atlanta from the Tampa area. With a high volume of people evacuating the spaces at charging stations will be very limited. Then you have the issue of potentially out of service charging stations when you attempt to return after an hurricane.

Definitely something to think about.

we had a lot of discussion on this about a year ago.
My take away summary is that I would much rather have an EV than any ICE vehicle if I were trying to evacuate and might be stuck in traffic for 'hours'.

I would suggest that if you get a full charge at home before the storm hits, you'll have much better chance of leaving home with a 'full tank' than ICE vehicles that are all trying to fuel up. Keep in mind that if the Grid goes down, and you can't charge at home, the gas stations won't be able to pump fuel either.

Once you get 200 miles from storm center, I'd bet there will be EV charge stations up and running, because the Grid will be up and running.

Presumably you would not be returning until Grid power is restored.... so while gas stations may still not have any gasoline, you will be able to charge at home.

 

[DevSecOps]

Asking a question like that on this forum is gonna get you a lot of knee jerk - "how dare you say that" responses with nitpicking to boot.

I think that in general there's issues with emergencies and EVs. Not necessarily or exclusively for a hurricane, but let's say that you return home from a vacation and your SOC is at 5% (10-20 miles). You get a call when you get home that your grandmother fell and needs help, but she's 40 miles away... you'll have to wait until the car can charge. I have an ICE vehicle just for these reasons and others (towing etc). My grandmother is 93 years old and I take care of her more than her own kids. Today she called and said she needs help ASAP because the dishwasher is leaking all over the floor, so off I go...

It's always something to keep in mind for emergencies and while the chance of all of those things happening in succession is small, it's a change from what many of us are used to with ICE. When we need to get somewhere quickly a 5 minute gas stop seems like eternity, charging on L2 at home seems like a decade.

For natural disasters, while a hurricane is something you should plan for, in Cali we have earthquakes and sometimes spontaneous fires that don't provide you the time needed to charge ahead of time.

I don't think it's newsworthy, it's just something I think you have to accept when owning an EV.

 

[ripperAZ]

Errrr. If I have a plug-in hybrid, does that mean I get to wait in both lines….

jes sayin. Stay safe, Floridians.

 

[JohnnyForensic]

There were similar articles written after the bad snow/ice storm on I95 in Virginia last year. People were running their vehicles out of gas trying to stay warm during an all-day shutdown, and the hand-wringing about how bad it would be in an EV articles came out (probably sponsored by Exxon).

Some guy with a Mach-E did a test duplicating what that event would have been like, and the Mach-E fared perfectly fine and had plenty of power left over. Yes, it would suck if you had to find a place to recharge in the middle of a hurricane, but if the power is out for an EV charger, it’s probably out for a gas station too. (I understand, it takes longer to charge, cars stack up, etc.)

Still, this is partly why I charge every night to 90% and follow the ABCs (“always be charging”); emergencies can happen, and I like to know I’ve got a good amount of juice.

 

[ctenidae]

End of the day, no matter what vehicle you drive or what disaster you're evacuating from, you should take both factors into consideration as you plan your route.

Plan ahead, be prepared, and stay safe.

/funny- auto correct tried to insert "peripatetic" for "prepared." Kind of worked, considering.

 

[Ming]

I think that in general there's issues with emergencies and EVs. Not necessarily or exclusively for a hurricane, but let's say that you return home from a vacation and your SOC is at 5% (10-20 miles). You get a call when you get home that your grandmother fell and needs help, but she's 40 miles away... you'll have to wait until the car can charge. I have an ICE vehicle just for these reasons and others (towing etc). My grandmother is 93 years old and I take care of her more than her own kids. Today she called and said she needs help ASAP because the dishwasher is leaking all over the floor, so off I go...

If I always need to be prepared for a 40 miles drive, I won't arrive home with 10% soc... Instead of keeping another car for this reason.

 

[ctenidae]

If I always need to be prepared for a 40 miles drive, I won't arrive home with 10% soc... Instead of keeping another car for this reason.

Well, that's just, well, logical...

 

[daverp]

First three words on the thread are the weather channel. To the best of my knowledge they don't have a political biased. They are pretty big on climate change that is for sure.

I wasn't clear, depending on your TV provider there are several different weather channels, Weather Now, AccuWeather, Weather Nation. The Weather Channel, parent is Allen Media which tends to donate to the left, just seems to be an ill-informed story the way you describe it, I guess they know weather, not cars.

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