Lessons from Hurricane Ian for EV Owners
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- Опубліковано 20 жов 2024
- bit.ly/osetj-42
Plus Some Insights About Preparedness With Solar Powered RVs
Hurricane Ian passed through Florida this week. We recorded this episode outside in the storm. Here in Jacksonville on Thursday, as we recorded this, the wind was blowing gusts up to 35 miles per hour with steady, light rain. Ian had been downgraded to a tropical storm and was centered about 60 miles southeast of us in the Atlantic Ocean.
While the impact of the storm on us was modest in the end, it was horrific for many. Fort Meyers on Florida’s southwest coast was devasted. The sheriff estimated fatalities could reach into the hundreds. We pray he’s wrong, but photos and videos make clear the damage was horrific.
Just 30 miles to the south of us, St. Augustine was flooded by the storm surge that arrived near high tide.
In that context, we want to explore how EVs fit into the overall hurricane picture.
Florida has more EVs than any state except California. EV owners are beginning to appreciate the advantages of EVs during hurricane season.
Of course, the first issue is evacuation. Range anxiety grows in an emergency. EVs have an advantage over VICEs (vehicles with internal combustion engines) in that they are “fueled up” at home. Most EV owners can and do charge at home. We shifted from a 90 percent to a 100 percent charging strategy early this week, so when the storm arrived, we had a full charge.
Most people with VICEs don’t keep their cars topped off like that, requiring a special trip to the gas station before a storm. If they forget and the power goes out in their community, they may end up with real range anxiety in their VICE. Will that quarter of a tank get them to a community with operating gas pumps?
Our EV, mediocre if extremely affordable, can go 250 miles on a full charge. We now appreciate that you don’t need to go that far to get out of the way of the storm. The worst damage comes in a swath about 50 miles wide. Typically, you only need to go 50 miles in the right direction to reach safety.
An EV offers another big advantage if the power goes out. The EV can power devices and even the home. The Ford F-150 Lightning electric truck is designed to power the house if the house is also properly equipped. The truck can power the house in a conservation mode for a week to ten days, keeping the fridge operating and hot water running. For those optimistic about power restoration, the truck can run everything, including the a/c, for two or three days.
All EVs have big enough batteries to run the house entirely for one to three days, but most aren’t designed for that. Increasingly, vehicles are equipped with outlets of various types to allow you to get that juice out if you need it.
This allows you to get power from any vehicle, including EVs.
For our Chevy Bolt EV, we have a device like this one that can power the small fridge in our camper, allowing us to keep our most important things, meds and Diet Coke, chilled until the power comes back on. It isn’t much, but it’s more than nothing! If we lose power, we’ll have to eat the ice cream fast!
Before the storm, we took time to ensure that our RV solar system was up to snuff. With power out, we’re prepared to keep our digital devices charged and our most valuable things cold indefinitely.
As the storm moves up the coast to the north it will bring storm surge, damaging wind and rain to the Carolinas, having regained hurricane status. From there, it will move inland, potentially impacting Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia. Get your EVs charged up!
oursolartrailer...
So glad you're safe!
Thank you so much! 🙏 We're happy to be alive!
Glad you guys are safe!
Thank you so much! 🙏
I appreciate your advice and information. Thank you.
Thanks for watching!
Charging at the Electrify America station at the Avenues in Jacksonville right now. I was driving down from Asheville on I-26 towards Huricane Ian this afternoon. The eye was a little to the north of I-26, so I was getting a tailwind from the inner bands. Luckily it was a quickly degrading Category 1 at the time. Side note, all the 150kw chargers have been free as they work out issues with their 350kw chargers. I've essentially paid less than $5 to drive from Ohio to Florida.
Wow! Great report! Charging at 150 is really fast. Most cars can't, so that sounds like a great deal!
@@oursolartrailer Yes, it was nice getting free charging, but had the technical issue included the 150kw chargers also, my trip would have been very difficult if I had to rely on the geographic sprinkling of other DCFC stations. BTW, I found the ABRP to be great at creating the list of charge stations for my itinerary and my predicated state of charge estimates were pretty accurate. However, after it gave me a couple of routes usong back roads, I found it easier to use Google Maps for the real-time navigation to each charge station. I wish Google would buy out a ABRP and integrate it into Maps.
@@markstipulkoski1389 Great point! I'm hoping EA gets its act together. Our experience with ABRP is the same. It is a great tool for route planning but for navigation, Google maps is better. I love your idea for Google to buy ABRP.
Thanks for the update...thought of you all during this Hurricane Ian situation...I was stationed at NAS Jacksonville twice when I was in the Marines in the late '60s and early 70's and am familiar with the St Johns River getting high-water damage at times.
We're on our 2nd EV (leased a Nissan Leaf, and purchased our present 2017 Bolt EV) and have told neighbors, family members and friends about the added benefits of having a "extra power station" -- PG&E out here in Calif besides giving us discounted Electric billing when we use appliances or EV Charging on certain off-peak times (for us it's 12 mid night till 3 pm). Do you get the same Perks from your power company?
Great question. We get similar incentives. We charge using a level 1 charger. That draws so little power the utility does not have incentives for us. It offers $7 per month per EV charges with a level 2 charger to charge overnight. We have a friend with 3 EVs who collects $21 per month.
Does the 12v plug in an EV draw from the propulsion battery? I'd love to use it as backup but I wouldn't want to drain the car battery in my polestar 2 frunk.
That's a great question. EVs differ but all power the little battery from the big one. What differs is the conditions that trigger power to move. Typically, the car has to be turned on.
I currently drive a Prius C...and if I turn on EV mode, I can sit in traffic, idle, without using any gas. In fact, the engine typically turns itself off if it has been sitting idle for more than a minute.
Fantastic!
I've driven Toyota hybrids for 15 years and that has always been a benefit of them. I've never driven a Prius C and don't know much about it other than it's the small one. I've never had to switch to EV mode for it to shut itself off. Maybe that is particular to the C. Now driving a Chevrolet Bolt EUV which solves the whole thing. Good luck to everyone.
@@trenier23 How do you like your EUV?
I am waiting for my EUV 😊
@@Dextermorga Congratulations! That's a great vehicle. It's like a luxury vehicle for passengers, front and back!