Fire Evacuation: Are Teslas Safer Than Ice Vehicles?

[goldengate]

Many of us in California are contemplating the risk of evacuation due to the fires that have taken over the state. I find myself wondering - if I have to evacuate, am I better off taking my Model 3 or my ICE vehicle? In prior blackout (no fire) events, the Tesla was definitely the way to go -- fresh air, easy access to live streaming news on the screen, and better access to charging because the Superchargers were up while the gas stations in our area were closed.

I see those videos of people driving on roads with flames on either side of the road and I wonder, would the Tesla be safer? Less likely to combust since less gasoline? Or is it the tires that often catch fire, and those are the same on ICE or Tesla, so no big difference.

I'm curious if others have weighed the pros and cons during this fire season. I have Googled this topic and nothing comes up so maybe I'm the only one...

Stay safe, everyone!

 

[israndy]

I want to save my Tesla from burning up, so I'm taking it. Plus, unlike a gas car, you can fill the Tesla at home, so it is ALWAYS ready to go.

Once the CyberTruck is the vehicle I take to the cabin it will be a no brainer, I can drive thru anything with that.

 

[bmah]

I suspect that everybody has factors that are specific to their household (i.e. my Model S can hold way more random cargo than my wife's 530e), and those might override whether it's an EV or an ICE. I'm pretty sure we'd bug out in the Tesla if needed.

(If you have time to prepare, remember to bring your mobile connector and all your charging adapters.)

Bruce.

 

[aesculus]

I probably should share my "I would not evacuate" vote because it's unusual.

While I am in a high fire severity zone and would definitely be called on to evacuate I would not. Everyone else probably should.

I have 4000 gallons of on-site water, gas powered fire pump, 500 feet of wildland fire hose and fittings, wildland tools and my wife and I have over 50 years combined wildland firefighting experience. We also have two Powerwalls that can run our well pumps. Plus all of our trees are limbed up, the grass has been mowed over the 10 acres by our horses and we have changed all of our vents to 1/8" screens. We have also removed all combustibles from around our home and most of the area around our house is flat. So while our house is not fireproof, it is very defensible. Not being there to defend it could put it at risk.

So I am not advocating anyone else stay at home and not evacuate if you are instructed to do so. It is very dangerous to stay and if you wait until the last minute to leave, you raise the risk to your safety enormously.

 

[NorCalEV]

I evacuated from Portland to the SF Bay Area on Tuesday in my M3. Air recirc plus the HEPA filters I installed kept AQ inside car reasonable. Biggest problem was that unlike my iPhone, the M3 did not update routing once I5 (and later US101) was closed due to wildfire. I had to divert from the Grants Pass, OR Supercharger to the coast on Hwy 199 (which itself was closed later) but wasn’t really able to use the M3 navigation system to find an alternate route between super chargers not impacted by closed sections of highways. I ended up having to stop at Ft Bragg to add a bit of range at a chargepoint station (only 7 kW — so slow!!!) so I could make it to Santa Rosa.

Recommendation to Tesla for better fire evac support:
- have on-board navigation check for highway closures
- add inside and outside AQ meters to enable automatic cycling between recirc and normal AC mode

 

[totoro722]

Glad you made it, and thanks for the report and harrowing photos.

 

[israndy]

My Volvo had that feature, if I drove thru crud, like diesel exhaust, the Auto Recirc would come one. I was disappointed that the 5 years newer Tesla didn't. I really wish there was a way to force the car to pick another route to travel via. Apple Maps, Google Maps, they all offer multiple routes at once. Pick one.

 

[ecarfan]

Many of us in California are contemplating the risk of evacuation due to the fires that have taken over the state. I find myself wondering - if I have to evacuate, am I better off taking my Model 3 or my ICE vehicle? In prior blackout (no fire) events, the Tesla was definitely the way to go -- fresh air, easy access to live streaming news on the screen, and better access to charging because the Superchargers were up while the gas stations in our area were closed.

I see those videos of people driving on roads with flames on either side of the road and I wonder, would the Tesla be safer?

I don’t own an ICE vehicle but if I did and had to choose I would take the Tesla since in fire season I keep my cars at 90% charge and have access to many Superchargers throughout the state, plus my X has BioWeapon Defense Mode and that big HEPA filter really does a good job of filtering out smoke.

Driving down a road with fire on both sides I don’t know if an EV would be safer or not; it’s a terrible situation to be in either way. The type of car you are driving would be the least of your worries.

By the way, if gas stations are closed because the grid is shut down EV chargers will also be shut down. If the gas stations are closed for other reasons and EV chargers remain open than obviously that the advantage goes to the EVs. But if gas stations are closed because the thread of fire at their location is imminent than I suspect the grid will not be reliable and neither will EV charging. However, Tesla’s have such long range that you should certainly be able to drive out of the fire area and charge somewhere.

 

[goldengate]

@NorCalEV glad you made it out and thanks for sharing your story with us. I am glad you made it out safely.
You raise a good point about the maps not being updated in real time with road closures etc... that is a significant vulnerability and one that I would think Elon would respond to on Twitter. They already update the maps with traffic info so I would think they could add closure info...?

 

[Uncle Paul]

Would take my X because it has HEPA filter, does not carry 25 gallons of explosive gasoline, and I love it more than my gasser...

Years ago, I needed to evacuate from San Diego due to wildfires in my Jeep. All the gas stations were shut down and my air filter quickly got clogged by all the ash in the air. Needed to stop and bang it out to keep it running.

 

[tander]

Would take the Tesla for the air filtration alone!

 

[AMPd]

Once the CyberTruck is the vehicle I take to the cabin it will be a no brainer, I can drive thru anything with that.

the Cybertruck might be a beast but it’s tires will still be the weak point.

Would take the Tesla for the air filtration alone!

Same!

Would take my X because it has HEPA filter, does not carry 25 gallons of explosive gasoline, and I love it more than my gasser...

Years ago, I needed to evacuate from San Diego due to wildfires in my Jeep. All the gas stations were shut down and my air filter quickly got clogged by all the ash in the air. Needed to stop and bang it out to keep it running.

If you’re driving so close to a fire where you feel like the gasoline will be an issue then you’re already in trouble. Don’t know if you know this, but your tires will burn up before your tank will.

 

[ucmndd]

HEPA filter plus ability to run HVAC for hours on end and/or sleep in car if necessary is a no-brainer.

 

[NorCalEV]

Thanks for the responses.

The challenge when running HVAC on recirc mode for hours on end is that you get buildup of CO2 - my AQ meter measures that too. So I would keep recirc on until CO2 got too high, then turn off recirc when PM2.5 got too high.

Another thing that was annoying is the limited map area that is cached in the Mac system. Cell reception was spotty in the hills as I was getting out of there, so it would have been hard to find alternate route if I needed to in a hurry. I’ve ordered some paper road maps of the western US that I’ll keep in the car just in case. But RAM is cheap - I don’t see why Tesla just doesn’t download and cache the entire region.

 

[NorCalEV]

Make that recirc on when PM2.5 got too high. And “map system”, not “Mac system”...wish I could edit posts

 

[ucmndd]

The challenge when running HVAC on recirc mode for hours on end is that you get buildup of CO2 - my AQ meter measures that too. So I would keep recirc on until CO2 got too high, then turn off recirc when PM2.5 got too high.

Bio defense mode in S/X brings in outside air through the HEPA filter to create positive pressure... nice benefit.

 

[TSLA Pilot]

Frankly, one could LIVE in a Tesla for an extended period, as long as you could keep finding a SC somewhere nearby to hit up for more energy.

An ICE will always limit you, and you'll have to consider that ash will, eventually, clog the ICE intake air filter. Then your engine will shut down leaving you in a potential tomb of your own making. Plus you are range-limited to the amount of fuel in the fuel tank, and that is IT.

A Tesla needs ZERO air to propel the car forward. All this is needed is just the stored energy from your own home's garage in the form of kWh's of electrical energy. Charge to near 100% every night so you'll have maximum stored energy to bug out as far as you need or want to go, potentially 402 miles on a Raven, Long Range Plus Model S . . . .

This is really a no-brainer if you think it through.

(Plus, for environmental reasons, such as those that have caused the entire US west coast to burn so often and so heavily, every less ICE on the planet is that much better FOR the planet. Let your ICE burn; SAVE THE TESLAS!)

 

[AMPd]

Frankly, one could LIVE in a Tesla for an extended period, as long as you could keep finding a SC somewhere nearby to hit up for more energy.

An ICE will always limit you, and you'll have to consider that ash will, eventually, clog the ICE intake air filter. Then your engine will shut down leaving you in a potential tomb of your own making. Plus you are range-limited to the amount of fuel in the fuel tank, and that is IT.

A Tesla needs ZERO air to propel the car forward. All this is needed is just the stored energy from your own home's garage in the form of kWh's of electrical energy. Charge to near 100% every night so you'll have maximum stored energy to bug out as far as you need or want to go, potentially 402 miles on a Raven, Long Range Plus Model S . . . .

This is really a no-brainer if you think it through.

(Plus, for environmental reasons, such as those that have caused the entire US west coast to burn so often and so heavily, every less ICE on the planet is that much better FOR the planet. Let your ICE burn; SAVE THE TESLAS!)

Apparently teslas never run out of energy in this guys mind.

 

[Uncle Paul]

Some feel that the excess number of ICE vehicles on the road is itself causing so may forest fires. If man made Global Warming is real, then the more EVs on the road the better. Each EV that replaces a gasser is perhaps making the world a better place.

 

[goldengate]

During the fires and PSPS events last year, I basically did live in my Tesla... in my garage... I was able to charge it at a local facility that had a backup generator attached to their Chargepoint, and I found my Model 3 to be much more comfortable (streaming news, air conditioned air, comfy seats, lights...) than sitting in my house with a LED lantern. My husband, on the other hand, had a hard time finding gas stations that had power to run the pumps. It was the opposite of what I would have expected.