Some electric vehicle owners in California are resorting to using gasoline power as the state’s power utility employs roving blackouts to avoid potential wildfires.
Tesla warned its customers Wednesday to be aware of the problems and fully energize their vehicles instead of relying on half-power.
Two electric vehicle owners in the state say they are not taking any chances and will rely on gas power to run their cars if they lose power.
California’s public utility Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) begins a days-long power shutoff to curb the risk of wildfires.
“At least in the worst-case scenario I have a gas-based generator for my house and for possible charging of my car,” Chad Dunbar, a resident of Petaluma, Calif. who works in IT in local government, told The Washington Post Wednesday night. His power was still on as of Wednesday, WaPo noted.
Dunbar bought gasoline-powered generators to charge his Tesla Model 3 in case of an emergency. He fully charged his vehicle Tuesday night ahead of the planned blackouts.
“A utility company in your area announced they may turn off power in some areas of Northern California beginning October 9 as part of public safety power shut-offs, which may affect power to charging options,” a message from Tesla read, according to Twitter posts from customers. “We recommend charging your Tesla to 100% today to ensure your drive remains uninterrupted.”
The electric vehicle company has not yet responded to the Daily Caller News Foundation for comment.
Zlatko Unger, 35, of Redwood City looked up the availability of Tesla charger stations after he got the company’s warning, telling reporters that the station he normally uses was busier than usual.
Unger said he has a backup plan if there is a catastrophe. He would use his Kia Niro plug-in hybrid, which can shift to gasoline power once the electric battery is depleted. “If everything went haywire, we would opt to use the hybrid instead,” he said.
Power went out for 513,000 northern California homes and businesses Wednesday morning, USA Today reported. Roughly 234,000 customers were expected to lose power later Wednesday afternoon, with another 42,000 people going dark, the outlet reported.
PG&E uses a mixture of natural gas, hydroelectric energy, and nuclear energy to power homes across northern California.
Read more at Daily Caller
A glimpse of the future with renewable energy.
Yep, and it won’t even take the threat of forest fires for it to occur. And the utility companies won’t be able to give advance warning. This is what 3rd world countries look like.
Well, I just hope the citizenry remembers all the names of the politicians & environmental NGO’s who foisted energy POVERTY on them when this becomes a routine way of life. Hopefully, the rest of our country is paying attention and making better choices….
$!00 grand for a part time vehicle . Yep sounds about right .
Just one more wonderful California benefit .
There is a whole lot more to power outages than electrical vehicles. We know since we live in area where power outages are common. Most don’t own an electric vehicle but everyone can be impacted due to lack of heat, cooking, and lights. For those of us on a well, no power can mean no water. Like most people in our area we own a large generator that can run the basics in the house including the well and propane furnace. If we had an electric vehicle it could charge that. Except for those with satellite internet, a power outage can mean isolation. A generator can keep electronics in the house going, but cable internet and cell phone towers will go down in a large outage.
The current situation in California would exist even if the fraud of climate change did not. No matter where the power is coming from, lines coming down in high winds can start a fire.
The way this issue does relate to climate change is it gives us a view into the future of what it will be like where there are power outages due to using renewable energy. Should these become common business shut downs will impact the economy and the wages of the middle class.
Absolutely correct. Most Americans (really) have little or no understanding of how our nations power grid works. Lack of knowledge of energy imperatives and base load vs. intermittent power sources MATTER in keeping the grid stable & reliable. Unfortunately, we are NOT having a well informed, sensible debate about what are REAL alternatives in the energy transition. Somehow, that has got to change. Maybe some blackouts & fuel shortages will provide a dose of reality before this goes too far. Folks need to educate themselves and start thinking rather than just blindly accepting activist “talking points.” This is too important. We have to get this right…
I suppose charging your EV from solar panels on rooftop is somewhat risky when the fires are burning the roof
Petroleum as an energy source: high density, portable, quick to fill up a car or generator, readily available, relatively cheap. Nah, let’s keep it in the ground.
Without oil & gas, let’s try a new slogan…”Keep it in the GARAGE!”