EV in a hurricane evacuation

[mjs020294]

Isn't the answer just drive to the opposite coast? Florida is only 120 miles across. Well within range.

Good luck to all that are facing this!

It depends on the path. Most hurricanes have tropical storm force winds 120-180 miles off the hurricane eye. Big hurricanes can have hurricane force winds 75+ miles from the eye. So basically a lot of hurricanes impact the entire State coast to coast.

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[mjs020294]

They are rated 4% right of center which is considered unbiased. Interesting thing is on many weather based topics they are definitely left of center when it comes to the conservative mainstream.

The public's view on news media is often perception more than factual.

 

[DevSecOps]

This is the lamest argument. If we have X chargers at 5% market share, we’ll have 4X chargers at 20% market share. These are profit-making companies that build chargers to earn money. They will expand with the market for EV’s - as they already do.

Before you call me lame maybe you should get your head out of the mud, otherwise you look dumb. The California market share is now at 15%. That's 3x what is was in 2019 and there's still the same 40 chargers there. No more, no less and it's still an issue during holidays. Additionally, one of the biggest complaints from EV owners is the lack and reliability of chargers. Even in this thread, people are saying that northern Florida has very few and it could be problematic. We are talking about cases of mass evacuation, not daily driving. My trip in May, from Vegas to Page AZ forced me to take my ICE vehicle because there was no chargers. EV adoption is way ahead of the DCFC curve and even our government can admit that. Those blinders aren't a good look.

 

[sotek2345]

It depends on the path. Most hurricanes have tropical storm force winds 120-180 miles off the hurricane eye. Big hurricanes can have hurricane force winds 75+ miles from the eye. So basically a lot of hurricanes impact the entire State coast to coast.

In general that sounds like a very good reason to not live in Florida.

 

[Logal727]

In general that sounds like a very good reason to not live in Florida.

I mean, I’d really like it if people stopped coming here

 

[mjs020294]

In general that sounds like a very good reason to not live in Florida.

Please spread that thought, we are a little overwhelmed with transplants from the NE.

We have been here for 22 years and lived through a few hurricanes with practically no damage or drama.

 

[Kevin P]

Those of you who believe you would be better off in a BEV as compared to a fully-fueled ICE vehicle when an evac of considerable distance is necessary are living in a fantasy land. There are a few scenarios where a BEV would be better, like sitting immobile in traffic (although you can turn an ICE off too) but the lack of charger availability is tremendous in most parts of the country. It would be nearly impossible for me to get more than about 250 miles from my house in a BEV. Finding a charge in normal times is difficult. Finding one when every other BEV needs one too would be virtually impossible. Gas availability points are literally several orders of magnitude greater, not to mention an ICE car would have approaching twice the range to begin with.

This may all change one day, but not tomorrow.

 

[Logal727]

So far my tentative plan for the huge battery with wheels in our garage in the event of prolonged power outage is to use it to keep our devices charged and possibly sleep in it with low ac use if it gets too hot in the house. The advantage of not having to open the garage is being able to sleep in it.

 

[mjs020294]

Most highway rest stops have plenty of land around them. Power companies should be building large solar parks and charging facilities for large numbers of cars that is accessible from the rest area. The power companies are the ones positioned best to get the infrastructure in place and make charging a profitable proposition.

 

[Moomin]

Those of you who believe you would be better off in a BEV as compared to a fully-fueled ICE vehicle when an evac of considerable distance is necessary are living in a fantasy land. There are a few scenarios where a BEV would be better, like sitting immobile in traffic (although you can turn an ICE off too) but the lack of charger availability is tremendous in most parts of the country. It would be nearly impossible for me to get more than about 250 miles from my house in a BEV. Finding a charge in normal times is difficult. Finding one when every other BEV needs one too would be virtually impossible. Gas availability points are literally several orders of magnitude greater, not to mention an ICE car would have approaching twice the range to begin with.

This may all change one day, but not tomorrow.

That's why you put a generator in the back of your EV with 10 gallons of gas.

 

[DevSecOps]

I've only once had to wait for a charger at a DCFC station. When and where are you running into charger congestion? Or have you just "heard" it's a real problem on a normal day?

In the last year I've had to either wait or drive to a different charger due to congestion no fewer than 10 times.

Normally this happens in urban areas with only one, or few, stations. It's happened to me multiple times in Los Banos, CA and Salinas, CA. Also happened to me in Bakersfield and South Lake Tahoe. I even saw a fight break out over a charger in Salinas.

 

[RockwallRick]

Isn't the answer just drive to the opposite coast? Florida is only 120 miles across. Well within range.

Good luck to all that are facing this!

We just now got the official Hurricane Warning for our county in Central Florida. If I was planning to evacuate I would head over to Vero Beach on the east coast which is about 80 miles from where I live. Plenty of range to get there and back.

 

[GoGoGadgetMachE]

This was said earlier, I think, but it's important to repeat given some of the replies afterwards - the ability of someone to use a BEV in an evacuation scenario is going to be very dependent on the scenario and the location.

With where I am in Ohio, I am fully confident that in the event of some kind of evacuation (there are very, very few I'd have to worry about), with the charger distribution, and the EV ownership level, I could do it, and I wouldn't worry about it at all. The bigger issue would be how to safely deal with two people plus three dogs across two houses including isolation requirements, etc. - it would not be pleasant, especially if we don't have a substantial warning (but again I can't imagine a plausible scenario where we'd have that concern here). That would be true even if all three vehicles we have access to were gas, because it's a size thing, not a propulsion thing.

It's not "living in a fantasy land" to say that the BEV side wouldn't be an issue for me, and it's sort of insulting to suggest that it is, since it suggests I have no idea about the threats are where I have lived for over 20 years, no idea what the charging network is like when I've done several road trips, etc.

If some other part of the US, with the scenarios and ownership being different, I'd evaluate differently as a result, just like I'd evaluate how I'd deal with access to clean water, heating/cooling, food, a safe place to sleep, etc.

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