California power outages: What do EV drivers do when this happens?

Discussion in 'Environmental Discussion' started by ice9, Oct 10, 2019.

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  1. ice9

    ice9 Active Member

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    I've heard rumor that local authorities and media in California are advising Tesla owners to ensure that their vehicles have been charged to full capacity before the lights go out.

    What gives?

    California power outage: What to do when the power goes out
     
    #1 ice9, Oct 10, 2019
  2. Zythryn

    Zythryn Senior Member

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    Same thing a ICE drivers do, except without the long lines at gas stations. Fuel up ahead of time.
    BTW, media in California has warned EV owners, not just Tesla owners.

    Tesla did send out in car warnings to affected individuals to fully charge in advance.

    That said, if you needed a charge, and couldn’t get one at home, worse case you could drive out of the affected area to fuel up.

    For me personally, in the event of a power outage I’d just continue to charge at home on solar :)
     
    #2 Zythryn, Oct 10, 2019
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  3. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    Gives what?

    Power will be proactively shut off to try to prevent a repeat of last year's conflagrations that killed 85 people and bankrupted a utility or two. Nearly everyone, not just BEV drivers, will be inconvenienced or worse. Gasoline powered cars generally won't be able to pump fuel in the blackout zones either. But these problems should be less serious than those mass fatalities.
     
    #3 fuzzy1, Oct 10, 2019
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  4. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    Is your PV with battery back-up? Or is it off-grid system?
     
    #4 Salamander_King, Oct 10, 2019
  5. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    their infrastructure is so bad, they're afraid of causing more wildfires
     
    #5 bisco, Oct 10, 2019
  6. ice9

    ice9 Active Member

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    I know that fuzzy... ...At least I am familiar with the reasons for the planned black out(s). And I agree with the sentiment, particularly about fatalities.

    Gasoline will be available at station that have generators tho. All you have to do is drive around until you find one with the lights still on... ...but there will be lines at the pump, for sure.

    In any case, I was wondering how may days would you be able to last on one charge? I would think that you could get maybe a half a week with normal driving - maybe as much as ten times that if you were frugal. Considering the maximum possible duration of the blackouts, I would think that it might become a problem. However, since I have never owned an EV, I wouldn't know.

    Here on the east coast, for hurricanes, we generally prepare to be without power for one week. I've actually been in that situation. But even without power, I never had any problem getting gas.
     
    #6 ice9, Oct 10, 2019
  7. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i suppose it would depend on your commute, or essential driving vs optional.

    i wonder how many gas stations have back up generators? if it's not a large percentage, it could make for some very long lines, and higher prices.
     
    #7 bisco, Oct 10, 2019
  8. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    Aren't such generators very unusual? Absent prior knowledge of such a station, it may well be more time and distance efficient, and deterministic, to head directly out of the blackout zone for refueling. There are online outage zone maps such as this: PG&E power shut-off map: Bay Area electricity outage details by address

    BEV drivers could do the same for public charging stations.
    o_O

    This isn't a matter of rapid battery self-discharge. "Days" will be very highly variable depending on individual use, and most drivers should have a reasonable idea of their own needs. Some with still-operating workplaces will need to recharge daily. Others may be able to skate through the whole week without.
     
    #8 fuzzy1, Oct 10, 2019
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  9. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    It comes down to the persons daily miles, and the BEV's range. There are people here that have a very large percentage of their miles on a Prime be on electric. They could go at least a week without a charge with a 200+ mile BEV. A generator is a fall back for BEVs.

    Getting gas was an issue in some areas after Sandy.

    No power increases gasoline demand because of the generators, which could lead shortages on top of stations without power.
     
    #9 Trollbait, Oct 10, 2019
  10. fotomoto

    fotomoto Senior Member

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    As a PHEV owner with a choice of fuels, I'd use both.

    I bet this and future outages are going to spark (pun intended) many solar roof sales.
     
    #10 fotomoto, Oct 10, 2019
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  11. ice9

    ice9 Active Member

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    Actually, no. Or at least that wasn't my experience with Hurricane Isabel. We lost power for about five days. I was lucky and sustained only minor damage to my house, but more importantly I was able to get out and about. Most people couldn't get out of their residences because the streets were blocked by fallen trees... ...Large ones. There's not much you can do when all routes to your home have been blocked by 2ft or greater diameter tree trunks and/or branches. So there were no long lines at the gas station were I was, because most people couldn't even get there!

    However, now that I think about it, you are probably right on the count about generators. The power outages were best described as "power degradation". Many places had only partial outages (with one or two phases out) and could probably operate even without a generator. I never bother to ask if they were using one at the time.
     
    #11 ice9, Oct 10, 2019
    Last edited: Oct 10, 2019
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  12. Zythryn

    Zythryn Senior Member

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    We are on grid, with a battery backup system. While the battery backup is nice, the real benefit is that our solar array can generate power during the blackout.
    Without, our panel would also be shut down by the blackout.
     
    #12 Zythryn, Oct 10, 2019
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  13. ice9

    ice9 Active Member

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    There's always has to be one in the crowd (both the PHEV and the pun). (y)
     
    #13 ice9, Oct 10, 2019
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  14. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    NICE! I have been working on numbers to put PV on our roof, but what I really want is off-grid with battery back-up. Total independence from the utility. The off-grid part is not hard to do, but the battery back-up part makes the system so expensive it just makes no financial sense to me for the house we currently own.
     
    #14 Salamander_King, Oct 10, 2019
  15. ice9

    ice9 Active Member

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    Small generators are quite prevalent these days. I myself have a small Honda generator, but you definitely couldn't run a gas station off of it. That would probably take something on the order of a residential emergency backup generator, which are not cheap. So yeah, maybe they're not that common (see my response to bisco above, 2nd para).
     
    #15 ice9, Oct 10, 2019
  16. fotomoto

    fotomoto Senior Member

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    After Hurricane Harvey in 2017, commercial grade gensets on wheels were towed in to a couple of local stations. BEV users were on their own as power wasn't restored for weeks (months in some cases) but I bet most evacuated beforehand.

    The "What do EV's do?" discussion has been covered in previous storm threads. Just like a hurricane, folks in these outage areas in California had (limited) time to prepare. Those that didn't will learn the hard way. I bet generator sales are through the roof.
     
    #16 fotomoto, Oct 10, 2019
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  17. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    how far reaching will each blackout be? maybe it won't be that difficult for tesla owners to drive outside the blackout area and find a supercharger
     
    #17 bisco, Oct 10, 2019
  18. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    It’s expensive as a whole-house endeavor.

    It can be surprisingly inexpensive if you can divide the load.

    The setup I’m looking at would let me move a significant load to the PV system, but not the whole house. It would be enough to allow significant savings when operating normally. During blackouts, it would be enough to matter.

    If I do it the same way I did the beach house, the battery bank would cost around $1800. The big wildcard is that I’m not sure how long they would last. We get very long lifetimes from the beach house installation, but we also don’t hit it for a lot of power.
     
    #18 Leadfoot J. McCoalroller, Oct 10, 2019
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  19. ice9

    ice9 Active Member

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    Yes, in the event of a prolonged emergency that's what they would eventually do - start moving in diesel generators to support logistics infrastructure.

    I searched this topic as it pertained to power outages before I posted, and didn't find anything but I didn't think of searching for it in "storms". And, yes, anytime these kinds of disasters happen, generators often fly off the shelves.
     
    #19 ice9, Oct 10, 2019
    Last edited: Oct 10, 2019
  20. fotomoto

    fotomoto Senior Member

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    And in the case of hurricanes, tornadoes, and severe windstorms, so do chainsaws. Especially when the tree is laying on your vehicle! :eek:
     
    #20 fotomoto, Oct 10, 2019
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