Hurricane Milton and EVs.

[flyct]

UPDATE: Sorry for the long post but I am running on adrenaline

Today we drove back to the Cabin to retrieve our 2 Teslas. One had 57% charge and the other 65% charge, more than enough to drive the 125 miles to the house.

But we stopped at the Tesla Supercharger site at the Sebring WAWA gas station. After putting WAWA SC in as a destination on our Tesla nav systems to precondition the battery the site showed 5 stalls available and 2 cars En Route (that was our 2) Plugshare app didn't show the site as available.

When we got there the the Gas Price Signs were unlit and there were 2 police cars parked at the pumps, THEY HAD NO GAS but the Tesla Superchargers were operational and worked great as always. We had plenty of charge to get home but I have 2 years of FREE Supercharging with the purchase of one of our Model Ys. The FREE SC expires next January. We charged both cars to 85% while I walked the dogs, went to the restroom and purchased an overpriced $2.69 .Fountain drink in the store. My wife watched netflix on the Tesla screen while I walked the dogs and chatted with the nice and friendly 2 Sebring Police officers.. When I got home I plugged in my wife's car and it took 20.3 kWs (1hr 45min on the Teala Wall connector). Mine is plugged in now to top it off. It should be done in 1hr 5m remaining.

My daughter and Son in Law still have no power and they are running the house off my generator connected to a Generator Inlet that I installed for them. As of yesterday they have 6ea 5 gallon gas cans full of gas that they are using to power the Generator. If they run out of gas for the generator I will bring our Lightning over to power the house. Their cars and truck are low on fuel and as of yesterday they couldn't find gas so I am going to lend them a fully charged Tesla tomorrow to get around until gas is available.

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[MM in SouthTX]

Bottom line, EVs are more versatile than ICE, not less. You can come up with disaster scenarios where gas might be better, but I believe on average, being able to charge from gas generator or grid/off grid power is an advantage.

If you can recharge from a gas generator, isn't it far more efficient to put that gas in the truck and burn it for fuel?

 

[MM in SouthTX]

Yeah, simply not true. They do not require the same road.

The reason Florida has so many gas stations with power but no fuel is because Fl is one of a very states that gets in fuel deliveries exclusively from specific ports. Here is an excerpt:


How long will it take to refuel?
Most of Orlando's gas supply is delivered through the port of Tampa, where there are 10 operating terminals. Major oil companies' gas is then shipped to Orlando through a pipeline. The port is still working to restore power to the terminals so that they can receive supplies, Lipow explained.
"You need to get workers, terminal operators and truck drivers back, and the Coast Guard needs to inspect the channel for debris, and replace any navigational buoys. All that stuff is happening as we speak," he said. In his estimation, gas deliveries by tankers won't happen until Sunday at the earliest.
Ports that serve the rest of Florida are open, he noted.

So EV stations aren’t waiting on terminals to be opened or inspected. You can read the full article below. One of the Florida mayors explained what was happening and what was next. It seems they are pretty familiar with process by now.

Thousands of Florida gas stations are out of fuel. Here's how long it could take to resupply. CBSNews

Last thing is don’t be ‘That Guy’

My post says “gas stations need power and fuel to be of service”. Don’t selectively edit my quote to further your agenda. At least be civil enough to concede that EV stations don’t need fuel.

EV stations need a power source. What is powering them?

Yesterday, gas-buddy said about 1/3 of gas stations in Fl were still without gasoline for her trip back. Power has been restored though.

So 2/3 of gas stations had gas. So who exactly can't get gas?

Here's another article for you, from NPR: https://www.wusf.org/politics-issue...ns-fuel-depots-make-free-gas-available-milton

 

[flyct]

the only reason the OP could continue to use his EV to power the cabin was because of his neighbor's generator recharging the truck. This worked out fabulous for him. It is good to know and be friends with your neighbors in an emergency. It's actually the long term plan at my own place, recharging using the big generator at my neighbor's farm (plus my own LPG portable generator and 200gal of LPG I had before the lightning). I have that plan, because I am not delusional. In a widespread regional power failure, the nearby charging stations will be just as dead as the nearby gas stations.

Bottom line regardless of how some people want to spin this. Plan ahead when there isn't an emergency. Figure out how much power you will likely have and how long it will last. Then keep thinking ahead to what you will do when you available power starts getting low. Simply assuming you'll be able to charge at a nearby station is a foolish assumption.

Just to be clear, I didn't need to charge after 2 days running on the Lightning. I was using 15% battery each 24 hours. I only charged at the neighbors so I could have enough comfortable reserve to get home with the Lightning. When I ran into the FPL mobile charge unit if was unexpected.

I am fortunate that my next door neighbor at our primary house has a generator (he is a Generac dealer) and at our cabin at least 5 neighbor friends have whole house generators running off 500 gallon LP tanks. If I were to live there permanently I would also have a whole house generator just because power outages are routine due to tall trees taking down overhead power lines at least 15 time a year. In the 6 years I've owned out there FPL restores power always within max of 12 hours. The Lignining is perfect for that. This time the damage was so widespread it is taking longer.

This is only the 2nd time since living in Florida that a hurricane took out our power for more than 24 hours. After Wilma all of Ft Lauderdale was without power for up to 3 weeks. I was running our house on the same 6,500 watt generator that my daughter is now using.

1. For short power outages for 5 days or so the Lightning is great.
2. When power is restored but local gas stations don't have gas EVs are great.
3. When power is out at your house and there are fast charge stations open an EV is great
4. If you or a friendly neighbor has a working whole house generator and is willing to charge your EV, then EVs are great.
5. If there is no power, no whole house generator that you can use or no available gas in your area both EVs and ICE vehicles are not so great.

Right now we have power at the house to charge, EV charging stations are open but gas stations don't have gas. EV's have an advantage AT THIS TIME here. That may not be the case next time.

I have 4 generators and 3 of them can run off gas or LP. 2 Honda EU2000i's a Westinghouse 30 amp TT-30 RV ready and the older Coleman 6.500 watt gas only

Before we had the Lightning the LP converted very quiet Hondas were great at the cabin for short power outages. I would run them on LP and power refrigerators, Lights, Fans, TV and a window AC unit. Now with the Lightning a a generator inlet is so much better.

 

[potato]

If you can recharge from a gas generator, isn't it far more efficient to put that gas in the truck and burn it for fuel?

It is a little more efficient, but surprisingly not as much as you might think. For example: https://www.f150lightningforum.com/forum/threads/generator-charging-efficiency.15363/post-314870

You wouldn't do that regularly. At least I would hope not. But in a pinch it's good to have that option. That's my point. You *can* travel with gas if you need to (and have access to a generator). ICE trucks cannot travel with electricity alone.

 

[Runaway Tractor]

If you can recharge from a gas generator, isn't it far more efficient to put that gas in the truck and burn it for fuel?

Been looking for the gas cap all evening and still can't find it

 

[chl]

EV stations need a power source. What is powering them?


So 2/3 of gas stations had gas. So who exactly can't get gas?

Here's another article for you, from NPR: https://www.wusf.org/politics-issue...ns-fuel-depots-make-free-gas-available-milton

RE Q1: If the gas stations have utility power for their pumps, then the EV stations have power.
If you happen to have solar panels and an inverter and storage batteries that could be your power source to charge your EV.

Just preparing for the storm to arrive the gas stations ran out of gas from people getting ready to flee. If you had an EV, you just plug it in at home for a 100% charge to prepare. And for a lot less $$ per mile.

It seems like power was either restored faster (or never lost) than the resupply of gas stations from tanker trucks traveling on the same congested roads as returning evacuees.

RE Q2: Oh, yes you could get gas if you are lucky enough to find one of those stations, but you will be waiting in line a lot longer, and might have to buy premium, i.e., pay more, and are wasting gas waiting in line to boot.

It is just because so many people with ICE vehicles evacuated all at once on the same roads away from the impact zone.

ICE vehicles sitting in slow moving bumper to bumper traffic are burning gasoline - while EV's are not using much kWh's under those circumstances - maybe almost zero if no AC running.

Some people ran out of gas before they could get to the pump waiting in line or stuck in a traffic jam idling it away.

 

[Knightro2]

I'm in Winter Garden, just outside Orlando. We didn't get hit too hard but power went out at 8:30pm. About 3 hours later it still wasn't on soooo...I ran out to the driveway in the hurricane, turned my truck around and ran 3 extension cables into the garage plugged into my bed outlets. Got my two refrigerators, 1 freezer chest and a couple lamps powered up. 30 mins later they turned off because I forgot to leave my key in the truck. Lol. So out I went again to turn the truck back on. We got power back the next afternoon. I only decreased battery by 4% and I got to make coffee in the morning. Love my Lightning!

I had to go into work in Lakeland on Saturday for damage control and saw all the lines for gas stations. Never been so happy to own EVs now (my wife has a Mach-e).

Note to self for next hurricane. Prestage my truck and extension cords BEFORE the hurricane comes.

 

[Runaway Tractor]

30 mins later they turned off because I forgot to leave my key in the truck.

You do not need to leave a key in the truck. The pro power should have automatically turned off the "Vehicle power down timer." Obviously it didn't. So you can go in the vehicle menu and turn it off.

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