Current EV owners question re: stuck in traffic with low charge

[AgieF150]

current jam in VA makes me nervous even if I have more juice in my EV then my trip required.

I don’t know if lightening has heat pump or not my Mach-E looses about 30% range in eastern cold weather. If lightening will have same issue I will be Cancelling my initial reservation.

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[MickeyAO]

What are the key differences with being in an ICE, low on gas, and all the gas stations are shut down from the bad weather?

 

[AgieF150]

What are the key differences with being in an ICE, low on gas, and all the gas stations are shut down from the bad weather?

some one will have a can of gas to bring to you.?

chances are in bad weather you may have power loss too ?

 

[sotek2345]

current jam in VA makes me nervous even if I have more juice in my EV then my trip required.

I don’t know if lightening has heat pump or not my Mach-E looses about 30% range in eastern cold weather. If lightening will have same issue I will be Cancelling my initial reservation.

As far as we know, the Lightning does not have a heat pump (they aren't really effective below freezing anyways). For any EV it is good to expect 30 to 40 percent range reduction in the winter (as in real, below freezing temp winter) and plan accordingly. Preconditioning can help to offset this if you can do it.

 

[MickeyAO]

We've had two events in San Antonio this past year. One where the rumor was bad gas from Houston was coming (they had a hurricane that flooded the refineries) causing lines not seen since the OPEC embargo in the '70s, and the power outages during the winter storm. Gas stations ran out of gas on the first and the second (not to mention they couldn't pump during the outage). I switched over to a company EV during both events, and the Institute did not lose power during the second event.

From the pictures I saw from VA, no one is going to be able to get you that can of gas.

 

[AgieF150]

As far as we know, the Lightning does not have a heat pump (they aren't really effective below freezing anyways). For any EV it is good to expect 30 to 40 percent range reduction in the winter (as in real, below freezing temp winter) and plan accordingly. Preconditioning can help to offset this if you can do it.

I am in CT so weather is around 30-40, my std range battery giving me 150-160 Mike range on 100% charge.

 

[vandy1981]

current jam in VA makes me nervous even if I have more juice in my EV then my trip required.

This is a straw-man argument popularized by EV skeptics that needs to die. An EV is just as safe as an ICE vehicle in situations like the VA traffic jam and can "idle" just as long as an ICE vehicle. It's probably safer if you factor in CO poisoning risk.

Maybe my faith in humanity is misplaced, but you're not going to be left to die by people in neighboring vehicles if you run out of electricity/gas in a VA I95 scenario. Your energy source won't matter if you're stranded alone in a blizzard in the middle of nowhere. You're going to call for a rescue either way and will use your contingency safety kit while you wait.

 

[broncoaz]

Yeah, you could carry a generator in the trunk or bed, and a five gallon container of gasoline.

I don’t know that it would need the five gallon container with the Honda EU2200. During the nor’easter storm that knocked out power for a couple of days in MA I was getting 8-10 hours of runtime from a full tank running everything I needed in my house.

Would recommend also bringing along an electric space heater to use with that generator.

You're going to gain 2 miles/hour at most and probably a lot less if you're trying to run the truck's HVAC while charging. That's assuming the EVSE doesn't have issues with the generator ground loop or a noisy Sine wave. You might be stuck with a generator and no way to use it!

I’m mostly kidding, but Honda inverter generators are praised for delivering clean power. I’d need a second companion generator to get the 30A of 240v power.

 

[AgieF150]

I don’t know that it would need the five gallon container with the Honda EU2200. During the nor’easter storm that knocked out power for a couple of days in MA I was getting 8-10 hours of runtime from a full tank running everything I needed in my house.



I’m mostly kidding, but Honda inverter generators are praised for delivering clean power. I’d need a second companion generator to get the 30A of 240v power.

I don’t know, how clean power you need to use these EV chargers. I have PB, a big portable generator and EV, got to experiment this

 

[Dolfanrich13]

This is a straw-man argument popularized by EV skeptics that needs to die. An EV is just as safe as an ICE vehicle in situations like the VA traffic jam and can "idle" just as long as an ICE vehicle. It's probably safer if you factor in CO poisoning risk.

Maybe my faith in humanity is misplaced, but you're not going to be left to die by people in neighboring vehicles if you run out of electricity/gas in a VA I95 scenario. Your energy source won't matter if you're stranded alone in a blizzard in the middle of nowhere. You're going to call for a rescue either way and will use your contingency safety kit while you wait.

Just get another lightning to jump you haha

 

[GarageMahal]

Drive it like a truck and go off road!

 

[hhulseman]

Thanks for the replies, this would be a rare scenario but we did have an instance where it was cold, we were down to a quarter tank of fuel and 10 miles from home. A semi with a load of steel overturned not far ahead, and before you knew it we were sitting for 3.5 hours. My work commute is only 15 miles one way so charge there would not be a problem, just thinking of a day trip or similar instance where one of life's surprises can happen.

That is a bad scenario. Sitting and running the heater will burn through your range. You can still get roadside assistance. I doubt you can get a roadside recharge, maybe someday. You would probably need to load it onto a flat bed.

 

[jefro]

I was trying to get to a Christmas light deal in somewhat cold weather. My car actually has a HI setting in hvac so I tried it and of course seat heat on full. Creeping along for maybe 30 minutes the climate drew almost 20% of total consumption. Every EV has pretty detailed information. Some let you put data points as to when things happen on low power. At some point all will turn off non essential. Lucky for traffic jams is you can save a lot of power by not really moving.

 

[Tony Burgh]

current jam in VA makes me nervous even if I have more juice in my EV then my trip required.

I don’t know if lightening has heat pump or not my Mach-E looses about 30% range in eastern cold weather. If lightening will have same issue I will be Cancelling my initial reservation.

You should cancel. If not, you’ll be be buying Tums by the case from Costco.

 

[Maquis]

If I have 50% charge in my Mach-E, I can run the heat full blast for about 9 hours. Depending on outside temps, I can likely stay safe and reasonably comfortable for twice that long. And if bad weather is predicted, I’ll leave home fully charged.

Ive been asked this by skeptics “What will you do if you get stuck in bad weather?” My answer is “I’ll let people who run out of gas sit in my car and take the chill off!”

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