HACKER Q&A
📣 idontwantthis

Do EV Owners Think About Evacuations?


I'm thinking about both living in the Western US and buying an EV. One scenario I keep thinking about is getting caught in a wildfire evacuation zone without a fully charged battery.

Do any of you consider that possibility, and if so how do you account for it either practically or just mentally?

  👤 MBCook Accepted Answer ✓
If you were to plug in every night I wouldn’t think it would be an issue. That assumes that’s a possibility for you.

Unlike a gas car, when an EV is stationary it’s using basically no energy. Climate and the computers would still be running but relative to driving at a normal speed that’s not much at all.

So even if you were stuck in a traffic jam you may still be better off because you’re not losing ‘fuel’ as fast as an idling gas car.

During the 2021 winter there were articles about how people were afraid they’d freeze to death in an EV if trapped in a massive traffic jam for a very long time. As I remember papers looked into it and found the EVs would actually keep you warm much longer because of how little energy the climate system used compared to keeping a full engine running enough to heat the cabin.

👤 cratermoon
> getting caught in a wildfire evacuation zone without a fully charged battery.

How is that different from getting caught in some disaster without a full tank of gas, or at least enough gas to make it out of the area?

👤 dylanhassinger
If power grid goes out, you can run your house off an EV. so goes both ways