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Comment by bryanlarsen | Hacker News Reader

To some people machismo means strength, to others machismo means self-reliance. The 11 power outlets and the ability to power your house will really appeal to them.

If the world turns Mad Max, someone with an electric truck and a few solar panels won't have to worry about the gasoline gangs.

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If the world turns Mad Max, The Humungus will be driving around in the electric truck he took from some sap who expected to ride out the apocalypse with his solar panels and electric vehicle.

99% of truck-driving Americans will starve to death in the first month of a societal collapse, and there's nothing their truck can do about it. If you need a truck with a 120 kW-h battery pack it's either going to take a week to charge it from the excess capacity of a domestic solar array, or you need to quadruple the size of said solar array. Either way, between the truck and the solar panels you'd probably have been better off spending that money on land and seeds.

A water supply, land, seeds, tools, enough food to get to harvest and having neighbors you can trust. Trucks and guns are way less important.

In the case of societal collapse you're probably not going far with your truck so taking a week to charge is probably OK.

But of course it's not about what you really need, it's all about perception. In that race, trucks and guns are the most important.

I expect that after the first month the truck-driving Americans will turn cannibal and eat the Subaru-driving Americans.

I give them six months of survival.

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