EV Infrastructure after Natural Disaster

[JerryBob]

After the last 2 hurricanes hit the U.S. I heard about fuel shortages for ICE cars and long waits at gas stations if they had any gas at all. This also affected people trying to evacuate because there was concern of gas stations along the way having any fuel. I was wondering what it would be like evacuating with an EV? Would we be backed up at a DCFC or Tesla supercharging station yelling at the person on the charger, "Hey, you have been charging for an hour, time to move on?'

 

[oilerlord]

That's an interesting, and important question, one that is certainly relevant to those of us that live in areas prone to hurricanes & severe weather. Some of us tend to suggest that everyone can "make do" with one electric vehicle. Based on recent events, your question certainly challenges that belief.

Personally, the last thing I'd want to be concerned about would be planning charging stops in the midst of a natural disaster. I'd be grabbing the keys to my diesel and it's 600-700 mile range if I had to immediately get out of Dodge.

 

[GetOffYourGas]

Yeah, evacuating from any disaster (natural or otherwise) must often be done in a hurry. By definition, there is not much time to plan anything. Like OilerLord, I would be grabbing the keys to my PHEV, which also gets 600 miles on a tank.

On the flip side, after Sandy hit NY, people on Long Island with EVs were back on the road within a day or so while the gas stations all started running out of gas. And the trucks couldn't get there to refill the tanks. But even here, a PHEV would keep you going for local driving until the fuel pipeline (or truck line) gets running again.

I really think that PHEVs are a great solution for 2017. Maybe in 2025, charging EVs will be faster and more convenient. For now, it is a sacrifice for sure.

 

[oilerlord]

I've got about 30 liters of diesel additive (which is >98% diesel) in my garage that I bought when a local auto parts store was clearing it out. I've been hanging on to it for a while, and since I've been putting most of my miles on the EV, I've been thinking about just dumping it into my TDI's tank. From reading this thread, it looks like a case could be made to hang onto it.

 

[JAL1]

Or perhaps having an all electric car in the mix increases your options if you are a "dual fuel" household.

Jeff

 

[eatsleafshoots]

That's weird, I saw all that a lot differently. Lots of Facebook videos of lines hundreds of cars deep at Costco Gas, people panicking on Twitter and posting links to the GasBuddy availability tracker (littered with reports of stations WITH FUEL, but without power to dispense it)... that's awesome if you've prepared with gas/diesel you've properly stored and rotated at home. People that aren't willing to store multiple gallons of flammable liquid inside or near their houses can instead plug in the first place they spot the lights on.

My plan is to tow my Leaf with my Chevy Colorado, if I ever to need to evacuate somewhere. If I run out of fuel on that massive tank at 22MPG, I've got 110 miles in my escape pod. If I can't make it out of the range of a natural disaster at 600+ mi of range, well, Jesus take the wheel.

 

[LeftieBiker]

While it definitely isn't recommended, you can also charge a Leaf at near DCFC speeds by towing it in B mode while on, with a second driver in it.

 

[ProfessorBolta]

I just went through this (search for Sonoma County Fires). Evacuated from our house twice (three times?) and at various points saw long lines at the gas stations and reports of them running out. Or just not having power.

I posted a thread about this on http://www.chevybolt.org/forum/9-20...sion-forum/16874-bolt-emergency-disaster.html another forum. The car was at 40% because it was Monday@1AM when I watched the fire coming at my house, and we had driven a lot on the weekend and I was going to charge at work. I plugged in for a half hour until my power went out then we evacutated. We gridlocked with the other fleeing refugees but the Bolt didn't care about sitting in traffic.

Otherwise I was able to easily get a charge, either at a friend or relatives house or a free public charger in another town. The evac centers were filled to capacity so we went to a free EVSE in a neighboring town that was clear and camped out. Sat inside the car all day with AC/local radio running, and had an 12V-120V inverter off the battery to charge a laptop. That brought us up to 90% hilltop reserve (I forgot about it, then it didn't seem to matter as the Bolt had plenty of range for the local driving we were doing). After that I kept it topped off just in case at various houses.

Overall the Bolt became our home - my wife was so freaked out she didn't want to leave it and talked about sleeping in it. The ability to run recirculated/filtered AC while quietly sitting there barely touching the battery was huge, and the Bolt has a big place in my heart after this.

 

[SeanNelson]

When every kWh counts it's nice to have 60 of them!

 

[gpsman]

While it definitely isn't recommended, you can also charge a Leaf at near DCFC speeds by towing it in B mode while on, with a second driver in it.

While this might charge the EV, it is a dumb move if your goal is to get you further down the road. It won’t. This is the opposite of conservation of energy!

However, in most cases, 100 miles (Bolt at half full) is well enough to escape any natural disaster. That doesn’t mean your desired destination (grandma’s house) is only 100 miles away. But 100 miles will almost certainly get you to a place with power to recharge.

 

[SeanNelson]

While it definitely isn't recommended, you can also charge a Leaf at near DCFC speeds by towing it in B mode while on, with a second driver in it.

That's an interesting technique if you run out of juice on the road and have to call for a tow to the nearest charger. Leave it in "B" and get the car partially charged by the tow truck so that you don't have to spend as much time at the charger!