Damage from lightning strikes?

[father_of_6]

This is a tricky topic to search because of the name of Ford's truck, but I was unable to find any threads confimring this concern and just wanted to hear more opinions.

@jcanoe responded to a post about charging with a comment regarding lightning strikes and damage to electric vehicles. My purpose for posting isn't to contest this, I think we all would agree that and *anything* can be destroyed be a lightning strike.

I guess I'm just looking for communal knowledge. Is this a real concern? When ICE vehicles are gone and EVs are everywhere, do you think it will become a common occurrence for EVs to be toasted by lightning? Do ground wires provide protection? Should we really be unplugging whenever we suspect storms? Or perhaps unplugging at night in general just in case? Are there any guaranteed protections against damage to our cars from lightning? Would car and/or homeowners insurance cover an EV destroyed by lightning? Where do babies come from?

Thanks for reading and for being my own personal ChatGPT.

 

[father_of_6]

Just wanted to add... I have plugged in at night many times without concern for lightning, with disregard for the night's weather forecast. Not because I don't believe in the possibility of damage, just because I wasn't really thinking about it. I don't tend to unplug anything else during a storm, but the car is significantly more valuable than other electronics I own.

Does anyone else unplug before a storm?

Unrelated - what happened to the ability to edit posts? Seems to have gone away.

 

[jjrandorin]

Unrelated - what happened to the ability to edit posts? Seems to have gone away.

Most moderators, including myself are volunteers and have no access to the back end setup of this website. With tthat being said, I am aware that when you are a thread starter / initiator, the time to edit your post is very short.. I believe its a matter of a few minutes (perhaps 5 or so?). The first post in this thread, that you created, would not be editable at the time stamp of your second post in this thread.

I have no feedback on the thread topic itself, other than I have seen people who live in areas that are subject to lightning post about taking precautions during storms to unplug expensive electronic devices, like TVs, Stereos, etc. Whether its necessary or not, I dont know.

 

[HappyDude]

I unplug if there is lightening, I've read there is protection but I'd rather not risk it.

 

[father_of_6]

Most moderators, including myself are volunteers and have no access to the back end setup of this website. With tthat being said, I am aware that when you are a thread starter / initiator, the time to edit your post is very short.. I believe its a matter of a few minutes (perhaps 5 or so?). The first post in this thread, that you created, would not be editable at the time stamp of your second post in this thread.

I have no feedback on the thread topic itself, other than I have seen people who live in areas that are subject to lightning post about taking precautions during storms to unplug expensive electronic devices, like TVs, Stereos, etc. Whether its necessary or not, I dont know.

In all posts, even "not the first post of a thread", I no longer have the ability to edit. It used to be there. Can't fix my typos anymore. Oh well.

 

[RayK]

This is a tricky topic to search because of the name of Ford's truck, but I was unable to find any threads confimring this concern and just wanted to hear more opinions.

<snip>

Where do babies come from?

With a username like yours, that should be very obvious!

Edit: I don't charge at home and we rarely get lightning strikes where I live.

Edit2:

In all posts, even "not the first post of a thread", I no longer have the ability to edit. It used to be there. Can't fix my typos anymore. Oh well.

@jjrandorin For me, I believe that I can edit my posts up to an hour after making it. Even if I'm not the OP or if somebody has posted after me (like this example here).

 

[dhrivnak]

I have been plugging in for north if 13 years now throwing MANY lightening storms. Never thought to unplug and have never hear of anyone with damage.

 

[jcanoe]

Here is a recent article re lightning damaging 3 vehicles. Two of the vehicles were not plugged in, the third vehicle was a Tesla Model 3. Your comprehensive automobile insurance would cover this loss less your deductible. The Tesla Mobile Connector user manual includes this statement:

Warning: Do not use the Mobile Connector when either you, the vehicle or the Mobile Connector is exposed to severe rain, snow, electrical storm or other inclement weather.

https://www.reddit.com/r/TeslaLounge/comments/12c0uo8

 

[jjrandorin]

Just wanted to add... I have plugged in at night many times without concern for lightning, with disregard for the night's weather forecast. Not because I don't believe in the possibility of damage, just because I wasn't really thinking about it. I don't tend to unplug anything else during a storm, but the car is significantly more valuable than other electronics I own.

Does anyone else unplug before a storm?

Unrelated - what happened to the ability to edit posts? Seems to have gone away.

Are you browsing via mobile? If so, try turning the phone sideways. I dont browse via cellphone but some people have reported that.

 

[Watts_Up]

@father_of_6 Airplanes full of fuel get often hit by lightning without any damages.
The charge travels through the airframe, which is designed to handle it.

Delta Lightning Strike​

 

[jcanoe]

@father_of_6 Airplanes full of fuel get often hit by lightning without any damages.
The charge travels through the airframe, which is designed to handle it.

Delta Lightning Strike​

View attachment 939417

True, automobiles also survive lightning strikes due to the same Faraday effect. The risk is of ground strike lightning entering the home through the wiring or plumbing pipes and then damaging any electrical components connected to the home wiring.

Over the years I have had lightning damage laptop computers, surge protectors and televisions. (When I opened the surge protector the silicon MOV surge protector components that are designed to clamp on voltage spikes had exploded, there was nothing left.)

A radio engineer and ham operator once told me if you value something electronic then if at all possible unplug it from the grid and any antenna if there is a chance of an electrical storm. 5 miles seems like a safe distance when there is a storm but that is only 26,400 feet. Not much distance for lightning to cover.

 

[The Lorax]

Had lightning strike the ground a few feet from my house about a month ago. Killed my computer, TV, stereo receiver, central vac and garage door opener. MS was plugged in at the time but (apparently) undamaged. Fingers crossed that the surge didn't make it past the charger. I'd love to say that my car's range has doubled since then but unfortunately no such luck.

 

[zoomer0056]

In all posts, even "not the first post of a thread", I no longer have the ability to edit. It used to be there. Can't fix my typos anymore. Oh well.

This is true on my mobile but not PC. For about a week now I've only been using my PC for TMC. The look and feel of TMC on Galaxy S23 using chrome has changed, no edit for about a week or so.

 

[ucmndd]

This is true on my mobile but not PC. For about a week now I've only been using my PC for TMC. The look and feel of TMC on Galaxy S23 using chrome has changed, no edit for about a week or so.

They changed something on the mobile skin such that the edit button no longer shows up in portrait mode. Flip your phone to landscape and it’s there again.

Lame.

As for the topic of this thread - some anecdotal evidence. A few months after I got my car we had a freak thunderstorm overnight and a lightning strike VERY close to the house that caused one of the loudest bangs I’ve ever heard and a very noticeable power surge/momentary outage.

My car was charging at the time - went out to the garage to check on things and the cooling fans were turned up to 11, sounded like a jet engine. I thought for sure something was messed up but they calmed down after about 10 minutes and the car kept charging as normal.

That was ~7 years and 160k miles ago, so no long-term effects that I’m aware of.

 

[zoomer0056]

Lame

Verified.
Even with a cookie sheet sized phone, landscape just does not have enough view with all the header and footers covering things up.

 

[jjrandorin]

(moderator note)

OP, first, sorry in advance for the "edit button on phone" discussion in your thread. As for the fact that those of you who use mobile mention it only shows up on landscape mode, The site admins are aware and are working on it (per information shared in a mod thread).

 

[Olle]

I used to work in Telecom and we got very large numbers of destroyed equipment in the summer when there is more lightning and almost none in the winter. There is a clear correlation between lightning and damaged electronics. To answer OPs question, when we have EVs everywhere, there will unfortunately be some damage during periods of lightning.

We get a lot of lightning here in Orlando and had electronics in the house destroyed from lightning striking nearby. After we installed whole house surge protectors though, we haven't had any damage despite close lightning strikes, knock on wood. That's the first thing I would install.

The other thing is, NEVER EVER plug your car into an unknown brand charge cable. Your original Tesla connector will sacrifice itself to protect the car. With an unknown cable the performance is... unknown. I'm surprised at how many Tesla owners I see buying the cheapest charge cable/box they can find on Amazon. Big gamble to save a couple of bucks compared to the cost of repairing the car itself.

If your charge location takes a direct hit by lightning, even the best surge protection might not help. For that reason, I unplug our cars when it sounds really violent or close. Hoping that it won't strike the moment I touch the charge handle