Given that we lost cell coverage as well as power. Really regretting the Tesla after 3 days without power.
No power = no cell coverage
Landlines are a thing of the past and for the most part that means that people lack the ability to call for help beyond your basic 911 service.
So we’ve effectively tied two pieces of critical infrastructure together and made one dependent upon the other.
That needs to be addressed and resolved.
Worse: POTS and ISDN landlines are getting shut down left and right (at least in Germany, probably also in the US) as there are simply no linecard manufacturers remaining. Everything is switched to CPE-terminated VoIP crap (ever tried sending a fax with a fax machine linked on a consumer VoIP circuit?). So even if you HAVE a landline, its usability for 911 depends on the DSLAM having backup power (which many only have for 24-48h).
Amateur radio license: if my wife can pass the test, anyone on HN ought to be able to.
The risk profile as of a month or so ago now includes short-notice extended multiple-day intentional power-outs from the utility service itself.
Would it make sense to have 2 small inverter generators you could link together to charge the Tesla?
How long and how much gas would that take?
So, it would take however long it takes to charge a Tesla using a 120V outlet. Unless I'm wrong about the 240V plug part.
https://www.electricgeneratorsdirect.com/Honda-EGD-HONDA7000...
Two 5.5k inverter generators w/ a parallel cable.
So, 11kw with a 50amp 240V socket for about $5k.
So, about 2 hours for the Leaf, or no?
Seems a Tesla would give you about 30 miles for one hour of charge?
I don’t know.
But, yes, with extended power outages the general shift towards cell phones, EVs, etc. can make the consequences of not having electricity worse. Presumably at some point there will be more single-home panels and batteries that allow for extended disconnection from the grid but we're mostly not there today.
Hah. I thought about this. In NY, we lost power for a month after hurricane sandy because the public utility completely imploded due the years of corruption finally reaching criticality when the hurricane came through. It was so bad they privatized the power grid. Anyone with a EV would have been absolutely fucked in the meantime. We even had gasoline rationing because :surprise: many gas stations had no power to run the pumps. (Gas stations now mandated by law to have generators).
Present, one is better off having an ICE vehicle instead of an EV if one lives anywhere with bad weather events and not living in a city where you can just walk everywhere.
As you suggest even gas can be a problem but it would likely be less of a problem than an EV.
It's a hell of a lot easier to produce electricity locally from alternative sources than it is to produce gasoline.
And if you do have gasoline, you can use it to produce electricity.
Yes, but the problem has been very easily corrected for little cost (law mandating generators which don't take much to run pumps, not to mention they can run off the gasoline in the station).
The problem is, gasoline stations only exist by and large because of existing ICE demand. If the switch to EVs happened, gasoline stations would disappear fast given they operate on tight margins. The next major storm after that critical mass switchover and things will be ulgy.