Hurricane evacation and electric vehicles

[JSH]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

So what you guys are saying is people who own electric vehicles are rich land owners who have a fleet of vehicles and are only really using the electrics for running around town, because that's all they're good for?

It is about using the right tool for the job. When it came time to replace my car I looked at what I needed a car to do and the Spark was a great match. It is by far the cheapest car I have ever owned on a cost per mile basis.

Yes EVs work best around town. For most people that is where they do the majority of their driving.

[dwtaylorpdx]

So far ,, its only been a couple weeks,, but I'm finding it gets me to work and back, I can run general errands within about a 25 mile radius of my home,,, (More if I plan well)

A level 2 charger costs me about 75 cents an hour.. that gets me about 20 miles per hour in charging. So if I decide to stop to eat or whatever, I try and find something near a level 2 and lunch will give me 25% of my range back give or take.. Hospitals seem to consistently have chargers ,,, sometimes free ones..

[gumby79]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

(1)How does it get in the can?

(2)Charging at home with no lines it great.

(1)With proper planning, when the power is still on and before the emergency starts .
For me 5ga of diesel( shelf life indefinite) will get me 125mi. +37ga tank gets me 800+ mi.

(1)Its hard to find extension cords that long before during or after an evacuation.

answer? I'll take one of my other 2 cars

Note FL has an extremely high per capita of retired low-income individuals who frankly it's an impossibility to own 2 cars on $750 a month especially high enough quality vehicles to make a Thousand Mile Drive without question. Hence the high number of people that were stranded during Katrina many of those can't even afford one car much less a second one so that they can be eco-friendly

[cowmeat]

No, its just that folks don't get the idea that if you can find a decent cost on a EV and its your basically 2nd car, you drive the long range gas when needed..

Two cars aren't really necessary to pull that off, I do that very thing with just one car in my Volt.

I drive it daily and use no gas at all on my normal 38 mile 2-way commute, so basically it's an EV for my daily use. But for long trips I don't have to worry since it will go way over 300 miles on a tank, and I can just pull in to a gas station, fill it up like everybody else and go another 300 if necessary.

300 miles would have gotten me up into Georgia from my house had I chosen to evacuate for Irma, but I just boarded up and sat this one out.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

So what you guys are saying is people who own electric vehicles are rich land owners who have a fleet of vehicles

Why do you think owning a fleet of vehicles requires you to be rich? My current 3 ('00 Insight, '88 Toyota pickup, and '02 Miata) cost a grand total of $14K (not counting what I got from selling off previous vehicles). Try buying any new car (or just about used car you have to make payments on) for that,

The point is to use the right tool for the job. The Insight was great when I had to drive 250+ miles a week, and still is used (or will be when I get the input shaft bearing fixed) for long trips or runs into town. Like an EV, it's saved me more than its purchase price in gas.

But it's really not much good on rough dirt or more than a couple inches of snow, and can barely carry a single bale of hay. (And let's not even talk about firewood or stuff like that.) The 4WD pickup fills that role admirably, and has probably saved its cost in delivery charges & truck rentals. But it's a pain to drive long distances. And the Miata does mountain roads better than either :-)

[dwtaylorpdx]

Originally Posted by cowmeat

Two cars aren't really necessary to pull that off, I do that very thing with just one car in my Volt.

I drive it daily and use no gas at all on my normal 38 mile 2-way commute, so basically it's an EV for my daily use. But for long trips I don't have to worry since it will go way over 300 miles on a tank, and I can just pull in to a gas station, fill it up like everybody else and go another 300 if necessary.

300 miles would have gotten me up into Georgia from my house had I chosen to evacuate for Irma, but I just boarded up and sat this one out.

Definitely if your a street dweller,, The volt is a good option, Basically my Jeep gets driven for hunting, camping, and when things go frozen and snow covered, or when flooding is an issue.. (Oregon, Rain, it happens). The volt can't fill that gap for me, on the other hand,,,,, I get ~240 miles on a tank of fuel, 21 gallons.. So I need more earth blood than the volt.. LOL Right now if I drive the jeep daily I burn 150+ dollars of fuel a month on a 20 mile round trip commute. (City mileage and the word Jeep don't belong in the same sentence...) I also idle my insurance coverage when I'm not driving it, so basically the EV is a net Plus in my budget.. I figure the EV is going to handle my drive about 9-10 months of the year 100% of the time and maybe half the time the other 2- 3 months.. Saving me about 100 bucks a month counting maintenance/tires/etc, avoiding miles on the expensive to maintain vehicle..

[slowmover]

Originally Posted by gumby79

(1)With proper planning, when the power is still on and before the emergency starts .
For me 5ga of diesel( shelf life indefinite) will get me 125mi. +37ga tank gets me 800+ mi.

(1)Its hard to find extension cords that long before during or after an evacuation.


Note FL has an extremely high per capita of retired low-income individuals who frankly it's an impossibility to own 2 cars on $750 a month especially high enough quality vehicles to make a Thousand Mile Drive without question. Hence the high number of people that were stranded during Katrina many of those can't even afford one car much less a second one so that they can be eco-friendly

As before, 5/gl diesel no better than gasoline. Everyone's at 3-5/mpg due to gridlock. It's 5-15/miles of fuel. 35/gl (useable is 31) is 90-150 miles. You'll need 2-3 5-gl cans in addition to main to make 150 miles (the magic mark)

And to amplify about the poor, during an evacuation you'll see cars on the road that should never be allowed on city streets. Those breakdowns only make it worse for everyone else.

If one can't (won't) leave early, one is potentially screwed in a number of ways.

This scenario only highlights how worthless is an electric car: when it matters the most, it's an utter fail.

[freebeard]

In some circumstances the question is moot:


justacarguy: During Hurricane Harvey, the flooding was so bad, there was a small craft advisory on the interstate

[JSH]

Originally Posted by slowmover

This scenario only highlights how worthless is an electric car: when it matters the most, it's an utter fail.

So many questions:
What is magical about 150 miles again?
How are hurricanes relevant to my life?
Why should I care if you think my car is worthless?

[Grant-53]

A proper evacuation plan should maximize use of buses. One can have flooding almost anywhere. I understand in the Florida Keys there is only one main route north. Doesn't a Volt have an on board gas engine? The effective diameter of a hurricane is mapped and path is projected. A common passenger vehicle would have 350 - 400 miles range on a tankful at highway speeds. Creeping along at slow speed should extend that unless there is constant stopping and accelerating. There is no one size fits all solution for transportation anymore than there is one shoe size.