Hurrican Ida

[hoagan]

Was satisfying passing up all the huge lines at gas stations driving to and from work after hurricane Ida hit.

 

[jjgg]

Was satisfying passing up all the huge lines at gas stations driving to and from work after hurricane Ida hit.

I know it is satisfying. No need for a hurricane to hit, just drive by any popular Costco gas station (at least round my area) and watch the long line up that I used to wait in for 30 minutes each time.

BUT, what if the powerline is taken down by a hurricane?

Sometimes I was doing a bit of mental exercise of disaster readiness, and I'm leaning towards the conclusion that it is more risky to have an EV as my only car. If electricity infrastructures are damaged during a major disaster, finding a working charger would be hard, and the line up and wait time would be much worse than gas stations. Also there would be no options for EV owners to rescue each other, at least not as easy as delivering filled jerrycans.

 

[ThomasD]

Tesla could be running the Semi with goods and rebuilding supplies to the affected areas and use a portable mega charger to charge them

 

[skygraff]

Why solar powered Superchargers were part of the plan and same could be said for micro grids powered by solar.

Unless you’re racing away from the storm and needing to charge quickly, any available outlet will trickle charge even if it’s being supplied by a generator. Sure, you’d be getting your power from a dirtier source than (perhaps) usual and it would be good to offer payment when asking to plug in but, on the plus side, once charged, you could help deliver goods (including jerrycans).

 

[Skione65]

I know it is satisfying. No need for a hurricane to hit, just drive by any popular Costco gas station (at least round my area) and watch the long line up that I used to wait in for 30 minutes each time.

BUT, what if the powerline is taken down by a hurricane?

Sometimes I was doing a bit of mental exercise of disaster readiness, and I'm leaning towards the conclusion that it is more risky to have an EV as my only car. If electricity infrastructures are damaged during a major disaster, finding a working charger would be hard, and the line up and wait time would be much worse than gas stations. Also there would be no options for EV owners to rescue each other, at least not as easy as delivering filled jerrycans.

My wife literally just said to me last night (I have a 2018 MP3+) “I think we’ll always be a 1 ICE family, look at those people in New Orleans who’ll have power out for weeks maybe a month or so before it’s restored, how do they charge and what about Superchargers down”. Valid points I guess. I want her to get a Y or X to replace our Oddy when the last kid is gone but she’s adamantly against it.

Ski

 

[puckpurnell]

Sure wish Tesla would sell Power Walls without needing a Tesla Solar Roof. I have a brand new roof. Don't need a new one but would love a Power Wall. Go figure. In the mean time, I charge my Tesla to 80% when trouble brews and don't worry.

 

[trojaneen]

My wife literally just said to me last night (I have a 2018 MP3+) “I think we’ll always be a 1 ICE family, look at those people in New Orleans who’ll have power out for weeks maybe a month or so before it’s restored, how do they charge and what about Superchargers down”. Valid points I guess. I want her to get a Y or X to replace our Oddy when the last kid is gone but she’s adamantly against it.

Ski

Gas stations require electricity or a generator to pump gas.

 

[nwdiver]

My wife literally just said to me last night (I have a 2018 MP3+) “I think we’ll always be a 1 ICE family, look at those people in New Orleans who’ll have power out for weeks maybe a month or so before it’s restored, how do they charge and what about Superchargers down”. Valid points I guess. I want her to get a Y or X to replace our Oddy when the last kid is gone but she’s adamantly against it.

Ski

..... Solar. No power but tons of sun. Anyone with solar was fine.

 

[RayK]

Gas stations require electricity or a generator to pump gas.

It's conceivable that one could use a hand-pump and extract gasoline out of the underground storage tanks.

 

[stopcrazypp]

..... Solar. No power but tons of sun. Anyone with solar was fine.

Solar and battery backup (or at minimum some way to disconnect from grid). On a grid shutdown, without that, most grid connected solar systems just shut down, so are worthless for power outages (mine is like that, and when I have the free time I'm considering battery backup and its sucks Tesla no longer offers Powerwalls for existing solar).

 

[nwdiver]

Solar and battery backup (or at minimum some way to disconnect from grid). On a grid shutdown, without that, most grid connected solar systems just shut down, so are worthless for power outages (mine is like that, and when I have the free time I'm considering battery backup and its sucks Tesla no longer offers Powerwalls for existing solar).

There are options that don't require batteries such as Secure Power Supply with SMA.

 

[Sam1]

I get that warm and fuzzy feeling every time driving by a gas station and seeing gas at $4/gallon, knowing it cost me $4 for a full charge when I do it at home.

 

[Sam1]

Sure wish Tesla would sell Power Walls without needing a Tesla Solar Roof. I have a brand new roof. Don't need a new one but would love a Power Wall. Go figure. In the mean time, I charge my Tesla to 80% when trouble brews and don't worry.

In the process of adding 2 powerwalls now. It was a few thousand cheaper to get add in the 4kw system with 2 powerwalls on my existing system, than it was going with only 2 powerwalls installed by the local third-party installers that tesla recommends on their website.

-- as a side note, I'll be purchasing a Hyundai Ioniq 5 later this year as well. that thing has bi-directional charging, it's pretty cheap, and gets the full $7500 tax credit on top of being cheap to begin with. At that point, you're better off buying the car than putting powerwalls in. Just not 100% certain the car will be delivered by 12/31 and I needed some tax write-offs & that's why I moved forward with the powerwalls.

 

[bo3bdar]

It's conceivable that one could use a hand-pump and extract gasoline out of the underground storage tanks.

Conceivable, but doesn't really happen. During the 1989 earthquake in CA, I had 1/8 tank of gas, and power was out for 3 days in my area. No gas stations anywhere were pumping gas. Since then I always filled up at 1/4, no mistakes. If I'd had an EV charged to 90% like it is every day, I would have been fine.


Related Ida question- how deep can the water be, before your Model 3 stops fording the stream? I know on ICE engines you can't get past the spark plugs unless they are shielded, and certainly not past the air filter, but I have no idea on a 3.

Can I go up past the door frame? Up to the windows?

 

[skygraff]

Related Ida question- how deep can the water be, before your Model 3 stops fording the stream? I know on ICE engines you can't get past the spark plugs unless they are shielded, and certainly not past the air filter, but I have no idea on a 3.

Can I go up past the door frame? Up to the windows?

Sure. However, water will get in and will cause damage to your interior.

More importantly, no matter what you see or hear about Teslas being good at fording street streams, water is dangerous. Full stop. What’s under the seemingly calm “stream” could be a raging river and your Tesla, once dislodged from the solid surface, is along for the ride regardless of any effort you may make while comfortably sealed inside. It’s just not worth it to you or those who love you.

 

[bo3bdar]

Sure. However, water will get in and will cause damage to your interior.

More importantly, no matter what you see or hear about Teslas being good at fording street streams, water is dangerous. Full stop. What’s under the seemingly calm “stream” could be a raging river and your Tesla, once dislodged from the solid surface, is along for the ride regardless of any effort you may make while comfortably sealed inside. It’s just not worth it to you or those who love you.

No, this is more of a bend-the-wings scenario I'm thinking. If I've got a fire burning behind me, and I need to ford a stream to survive, I'd like to have a rough idea of how deep I can go before being stranded and still being burnt to death.

I have no idea. Is it just past the door sills and water gets in and shorts out the HV? Above the seat where the HV connectors and penthouse sit? Higher? Anybody actually done this, either by accident or on purpose?

 

[Skione65]

I’ve seen crazy videos of 3s fording with water literally halfway up the windshield as they’re fording. I’m mean crazy. Same with Xs. Now there’s never followups with all the electrical issues weeks and months later or other damage but I imagine problems abound after the fact.

Ski

 

[Davidw4806]

..... Solar. No power but tons of sun. Anyone with solar was fine.

During the big blackout in 2003 all of the Northeast was without power and gas stations were worthless. Very very few have generators. Also the delivery of gas ceased to the stations.

 

[RedModel3]

I know it is satisfying. No need for a hurricane to hit, just drive by any popular Costco gas station (at least round my area) and watch the long line up that I used to wait in for 30 minutes each time.

BUT, what if the powerline is taken down by a hurricane?

Sometimes I was doing a bit of mental exercise of disaster readiness, and I'm leaning towards the conclusion that it is more risky to have an EV as my only car. If electricity infrastructures are damaged during a major disaster, finding a working charger would be hard, and the line up and wait time would be much worse than gas stations. Also there would be no options for EV owners to rescue each other, at least not as easy as delivering filled jerrycans.

If you have the money and home, please consider solar panels and battery storage. It will help in so many ways.

 

[puckpurnell]

Conceivable, but doesn't really happen. During the 1989 earthquake in CA, I had 1/8 tank of gas, and power was out for 3 days in my area. No gas stations anywhere were pumping gas. Since then I always filled up at 1/4, no mistakes. If I'd had an EV charged to 90% like it is every day, I would have been fine.


Related Ida question- how deep can the water be, before your Model 3 stops fording the stream? I know on ICE engines you can't get past the spark plugs unless they are shielded, and certainly not past the air filter, but I have no idea on a 3.

Can I go up past the door frame? Up to the windows?

Doesn't matter how deep a Model 3 will go. Don't try. Simply not a good idea.