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With all the power outages around Louisiana, any word on how EV owners are doing with charging availability.

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This is a common concern raised by EV skeptics.

And while I doubt that going out for a drive is the first thing on people's minds right now, I suspect that gas car owners would be in the same boat (no pun intended) with likely gas shortages and power outages rendering pump operation impossible.

I have heard (through my wife who follows several ID.4 groups) that the smart owners charged up their vehicles in preparation for the storm, which for long range (250+ miles) vehicles would probably give them enough range to do whatever minimum amount of travel during this time. My sole experience with an extended power outage (3 days) had me mostly hunkering down at home, although we did make one short trip to a store that ran their registers off a generator (you had to bring a flashlight with you to go into the store). Obviously schools & workplaces were closed, so there really wasn't anywhere to go anyway.

Obviously some residents are going to be without power for weeks on end, even once power is partially restored to the area. Again, if there is a reason to actually go anywhere (other than to evacuate), chances are that power would have been restored to the areas where they are wanting to go, so the solution would be to charge (if necessary) at the remote end, and as a bonus, the EV itself can be used to "import" energy back home where the power is out.

For those that are now deciding that it would be a good time to evacuate, hopefully they took advantage of the forecasting that was available and charged their cars in advance of the storm. Jackson, MS is 200 miles from New Orelans, LA, which should be within range of those that prepared.

Here is a current power outage map:
1630442886118.png

Red shows power out, and green is power on. The blue line I've drawn is the route from New Orleans to Jackson, and while Jackson does look to be impacted, it still is in relatively good shape overall, so even if someone decided to evacuate at this time (and was actually able to drive along that route), they should be able to make it to a region with power with little difficulty.

A more challenging situation was during Hurricane Irma which came right up the Florida panhandle. Drivers in Miami would have to go several hundred miles to escape the wrath of Irma, with very limited charging options that would have been likely taken down. In situations like that, some of the Tesla mobile Superchargers would be a real help.
 
This is a common concern raised by EV skeptics.

And while I doubt that going out for a drive is the first thing on people's minds right now, I suspect that gas car owners would be in the same boat (no pun intended) with likely gas shortages and power outages rendering pump operation impossible.

I have heard (through my wife who follows several ID.4 groups) that the smart owners charged up their vehicles in preparation for the storm, which for long range (250+ miles) vehicles would probably give them enough range to do whatever minimum amount of travel during this time. My sole experience with an extended power outage (3 days) had me mostly hunkering down at home, although we did make one short trip to a store that ran their registers off a generator (you had to bring a flashlight with you to go into the store). Obviously schools & workplaces were closed, so there really wasn't anywhere to go anyway.

Obviously some residents are going to be without power for weeks on end, even once power is partially restored to the area. Again, if there is a reason to actually go anywhere (other than to evacuate), chances are that power would have been restored to the areas where they are wanting to go, so the solution would be to charge (if necessary) at the remote end, and as a bonus, the EV itself can be used to "import" energy back home where the power is out.

For those that are now deciding that it would be a good time to evacuate, hopefully they took advantage of the forecasting that was available and charged their cars in advance of the storm. Jackson, MS is 200 miles from New Orelans, LA, which should be within range of those that prepared.

Here is a current power outage map:
View attachment 703749
Red shows power out, and green is power on. The blue line I've drawn is the route from New Orleans to Jackson, and while Jackson does look to be impacted, it still is in relatively good shape overall, so even if someone decided to evacuate at this time (and was actually able to drive along that route), they should be able to make it to a region with power with little difficulty.

A more challenging situation was during Hurricane Irma which came right up the Florida panhandle. Drivers in Miami would have to go several hundred miles to escape the wrath of Irma, with very limited charging options that would have been likely taken down. In situations like that, some of the Tesla mobile Superchargers would be a real help.
I would not say gas owners are in the same boat. Here’s why; gas doesn’t evaporate over the course of a few weeks.

Depending how long the outage lasts there could be a bunch of Tesla bricks in driveways.
 
I would not say gas owners are in the same boat. Here’s why; gas doesn’t evaporate over the course of a few weeks.

Depending how long the outage lasts there could be a bunch of Tesla bricks in driveways.
What's your estimate of how long the outage will last in such a widespread fashion that there won't be any power available at all, say within 50-100 miles; versus how long you think it takes a Tesla to reach 0% state-of-charge due to vampire drain and self-discharge of the battery?

Granted, if there was someone completely oblivious to what was going on and had their car at a very low state-of-charge to start with, I'll buy your argument. Hopefully people were smart enough to charge up before the storm hit. Hell, I usually plug in when my car gets down to 100 miles even in good weather.
 
I evacuated in my tesla from new orleans to houston, charging at the tesla superchargers in Lafayette and Lake Charles. I'm returning Thursday and would appreciate knowing what superchargers are actually working. From the entergy maps if looks like Lake Charles and Lafayette are - has anyone used them post IDA? From the entergy maps can't tell for sure about the baton Rouge supercharger - has anyone used that post IDA. Only interested in what people know for sure, not debates about gas vs EV in evacuations.
 
Yes, they are. No electricity means gas stations cannot pump gasoline
I guess you don’t understand how gas stations in areas that are prone to power outages work.

But more to the point; you seemed to miss what I am saying. A full tank of gas is still a full tank of gas when left sitting for a week or a month.
A fully charged Tesla left sitting for an extended period of time is a Tesla with a dead battery.
 
What's your estimate of how long the outage will last in such a widespread fashion that there won't be any power available at all, say within 50-100 miles; versus how long you think it takes a Tesla to reach 0% state-of-charge due to vampire drain and self-discharge of the battery?

Granted, if there was someone completely oblivious to what was going on and had their car at a very low state-of-charge to start with, I'll buy your argument. Hopefully people were smart enough to charge up before the storm hit. Hell, I usually plug in when my car gets down to 100 miles even in good weather.
The point is this is something owners of gas vehicles don’t have to think about or roll the dice with.
 
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I'm not in hurricane territory, but I am in the middle of tornado country and extended hot and cold weather outages. I have a Ryobi 6,500 watt generator that has a 240v 30 amp outlet when needed. I'd bet the folks in hurricane land have similar capabilities if they've lived there very long.
 
I guess you don’t understand how gas stations in areas that are prone to power outages work.

There is also a significant problem that refineries on the Gulf of Mexico were shut down, which caused a supply shortage, so Louisiana is asking people not to fill up unless necessary.

Louisiana has a mandate that gas stations must have and test generators if they were built or significantly renovated after 2009. The law was introduced after Katrina.

So not all gas stations are operating and many gas stations in the larger cities impacted have run out of gas or have long lines. More rural areas are less impacted by shortages, but may have older gas stations that don't have generators.

Florida's law is for gas stations opened (presumably also changes in ownership) after 2006, or chains with 10 or more in a county. The law was introduced in 2005 after hurricanes, of course.

I'm not aware of laws enacted elsewhere, although they have been proposed, always proposed after hurricanes or storms that caused widespread power outages.
 
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But more to the point; you seemed to miss what I am saying. A full tank of gas is still a full tank of gas when left sitting for a week or a month.
A fully charged Tesla left sitting for an extended period of time is a Tesla with a dead battery.
I think you're over-stating either the likelihood of a power outage lasting for months or the rate of vampire drain in batteries.

News reports are that power has already been restored to some customers who had been without power because of Ida. That's within a few days. More will come online soon, I'm sure. Historically, power outages typically either last a short period of time (a few hours) or are very restricted geographically. EVs, by their very nature, are mobile, and so can travel to where there is power in order to charge, if an outage is of extended duration. Of course, this assumes that there's charging equipment somewhere in an area with restored power, but in a pinch, even a 120v outlet will do, provided you can stay there for long enough. If damage is bad enough that power will be out for weeks, then I doubt if many people would want to be living there during that period. I know that I'd evacuate in that situation -- I'd stay with friends or relatives in another area, or even rent a hotel room. If the disaster were bad enough that vast swathes of the country were affected for months, then we'd have bigger civilizational problems, and to the extent that your personal vehicle was important to you, you'd have problems with both gas and electricity.

As to vampire drain, leaving Sentry Mode enabled will cause significant drain in a Tesla and could bring the charge level down to 20% or so in a few days. (IIRC, that's where the car switches off Sentry Mode to preserve battery power.) Some other features, like cabin overheat protection, can also drain the battery quickly. If you're in a situation where you can't charge because of a power outage, though, IMHO you shouldn't be using Sentry Mode or other energy-sucking features -- and non-Tesla EVs, to broaden the discussion slightly, don't even offer that feature. I don't recall the precise figure, but with Sentry Mode and other power-sucking features disabled, vampire drain in a Tesla is likely to be less than 1% a day. That would give you enough charge to last three months, if the car were simply parked -- which is the premise of your statement, quoted above. Of course, if you were driving normally, it'd last much less than that -- but then you're likely to be driving to, or through, areas with power, so you'd probably be able to charge, even if it wasn't as convenient as normal.

For drivers of gas cars, there are always long lines for gas after (and often before) big natural disasters like hurricanes. There have been multiple news reports, like this one, about the situation in Louisiana now. It might not be impossible to get gas, but it may be rationed and it's less convenient, which amounts to something pretty comparable to what EV drivers experience with power outages -- it's inconvenient and time-consuming to charge (since you've got to travel to a working DC fast charger or EVSE) and you may not be able to charge as much as you'd like. What's more, when a disaster strikes a major oil-producing or oil-refining area, as Ida has done, the result can be a national gas shortage or increase in gas prices. Because electricity production is more distributed and more regulated, that's less likely to be the case for the national electricity supply following a local or regional natural disaster.
 
I evacuated in my tesla from new orleans to houston, charging at the tesla superchargers in Lafayette and Lake Charles. I'm returning Thursday and would appreciate knowing what superchargers are actually working. From the entergy maps if looks like Lake Charles and Lafayette are - has anyone used them post IDA? From the entergy maps can't tell for sure about the baton Rouge supercharger - has anyone used that post IDA. Only interested in what people know for sure, not debates about gas vs EV in evacuations.
Wondering the same thing we are supposed to be driving from New Braunfels, TX to Florida starting tomorrow afternoon..... I haven't been able to determine if any of the Super Charger stops are operational/down in the affected areas?
 
Wondering the same thing we are supposed to be driving from New Braunfels, TX to Florida starting tomorrow afternoon..... I haven't been able to determine if any of the Super Charger stops are operational/down in the affected areas?
On the PlugShare app you can view check ins from people at different chargers. There was a check in Sep 1st (today) at the Lake Charles Supercharger that said the site is up and running. The Model X that checked in got 125kw of charging speed. No check ins were reported recently at the Lafayette charger.

Lake Charles Supercharger - PlugShare - Find Electric Vehicle Charging Locations Near You

Lafayette Supercharger - PlugShare - Find Electric Vehicle Charging Locations Near You
 
Does the Supercharger map in the car say which stations are up or down? I'd think it should list non-powered stations as having 0 available slots. Of course that also requires the internet and local cell service to work as well.
It can indicate when a Supercharger is totally down or operating at reduced capacity. It's not always 100% accurate though. You'd think that if they lost internet access, it would assume there's a potential issue and warn you accordingly.
 
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I evacuated in my tesla from new orleans to houston, charging at the tesla superchargers in Lafayette and Lake Charles. I'm returning Thursday and would appreciate knowing what superchargers are actually working. From the entergy maps if looks like Lake Charles and Lafayette are - has anyone used them post IDA? From the entergy maps can't tell for sure about the baton Rouge supercharger - has anyone used that post IDA. Only interested in what people know for sure, not debates about gas vs EV in evacuations.
I am in Baton Rouge, I work downtown. I just looked at the screen in my car and it shows that the BR Supercharger is operational, but with 2 chargers out of service. It also says there is a short wait to use them.

If you're in a pinch and really need a charge, you could come to my house, I live in the country about 30 miles north of Baton Rouge and have power, with an 80 amp Tesla wall charger in my garage. I used to be on PlugShare but am not any longer. You can message me here. There are a few others in the area on PlugShare but I can't tell you their current status as far as whether or not they have power.
 
I evacuated in my tesla from new orleans to houston, charging at the tesla superchargers in Lafayette and Lake Charles. I'm returning Thursday and would appreciate knowing what superchargers are actually working. From the entergy maps if looks like Lake Charles and Lafayette are - has anyone used them post IDA? From the entergy maps can't tell for sure about the baton Rouge supercharger - has anyone used that post IDA. Only interested in what people know for sure, not debates about gas vs EV in evacuations.
You may want to reconsider returning so soon though. I'd advise waiting a while longer if you can.
 
I evacuated in my tesla from new orleans to houston, charging at the tesla superchargers in Lafayette and Lake Charles. I'm returning Thursday and would appreciate knowing what superchargers are actually working. From the entergy maps if looks like Lake Charles and Lafayette are - has anyone used them post IDA? From the entergy maps can't tell for sure about the baton Rouge supercharger - has anyone used that post IDA. Only interested in what people know for sure, not debates about gas vs EV in evacuations.
One nice feature of abetterrouteplanner.com is that it does have live Supercharger status regardless of where you are located (unlike in your car, where you have to be within the vicinity of the Supercharger to get live status--unless that policy has changed).

Right now ABRP is reporting 4/8 stalls available and operational in Lafayette:
1630519043441.png

and 2/6 stalls available and operational in Lake Charles:
1630519141765.png