Part 1 of this article examined some fundamental emergency management principles as well as how today’s connected EVs aid in accident avoidance and damage control. I’ll now wrap off the conversation by talking about how to be ready for, react to, and recover from incidents like vehicle accidents.
PREPAREDNESS Some accidents simply cannot be avoided or made less dangerous. Even if there is some mitigation, we still need to be ready for the effects that persisted until the emergency.
EVs have some important advantages when it comes to collisions. For starters, being able to generate power instantly rather than needing to wait for a combustion engine to crank up or a turbocharger to spool up and provide boost (also known as turbo lag) enables us to accelerate out of some hazardous circumstances. Often, using the brakes is the solution, but occasionally, it’s best to flee the scene immediately to prevent the collision. It’s crucial to be able to do that, and EVs typically excel at it.
EVs also have you covered when you do need to stop rather than press the brake. If you have regenerative braking turned on, the car will begin to slow down as soon as you pull your foot from the accelerator, and by the time your foot crosses the brake pedal and you begin to press, you will have already used energy. An excellent tool for being ready for challenging driving circumstances is that tiny bit of extra braking and time.
Making fuel for a combustion car at home is either difficult or impossible outside of accidents and into other sorts of readiness. If you use stabilizer, you might be able to store some gasoline on hand, but doing so is labor-intensive and risky when storing big amounts of the fuel. You might be possible to create gasoline for a diesel engine at home using cooking oil, but you’ll still need to buy cooking oil.
to an EV? Well, you can use your home solar power to charge it. Battery storage will be necessary to ensure that the system functions when the grid is down, but it will be worthwhile to invest in storage to ensure that you can still use your home and car in the event of a hurricane or, God forbid, a solar EMP disaster like the Carrington Event.
Even better, forthcoming cars with integrated solar power, like the Sono Sion and Aptera, can recharge entirely off the grid. You won’t see someone with an oil rig, refinery, and gas pump built into their car that can start producing gasoline in the office parking lot, so it may not seem like much of a benefit (since it will only add 20–40 miles of range per day).
Additionally, keep in mind that during power outages, gas pumps are inoperable, putting you in the same situation as EV drivers. However, EV drivers can get around this by installing solar at home.
Even while it’s unlikely that the electricity grid will be down for months or years at a time, being ready for the power outages that follow storms—which seem to be happening more frequently and with more intensity—could make life for a family and a business much simpler after a catastrophic catastrophe. If you don’t have residential solar, you can still use the larger solar generators to charge at 120 volts and draw electricity from the automobile in that situation.
RESPONSE Going back to crashes, you have an advantage because most modern EVs are connected. For combustion-powered automobiles, systems like OnStar have been present for years, but a system that can phone for assistance if you are knocked unconscious after an accident is more likely to still be functional in a heavier car with stronger crash safety features.
Therefore, an EV may have a benefit over a connected combustion vehicle in the event of an accident, which might mean the difference between life and death. I don’t know about you, but if I were to be lying there confused and unconscious, I would want my family to have the best opportunity.
Eventually, fully autonomous vehicles will be able to assist you in a variety of circumstances. You only have about six minutes to call for aid if you have a decrease of blood flow for any reason, such a heart attack or stroke, before the damage starts to become irreversible. If you fall unconscious, the car may safely stop and immediately contact for assistance. That might mean the difference between living and dying, or it could mean having to live with a chronic impairment.
RECOVERY The car can play a significant role in helping you and your town recover from catastrophic catastrophes like storms, hurricanes, and worse things like a solar EMP event, even while it can’t help you recover from car accidents and other more common situations (particularly after a wreck).
While power and fuel are being restored, having the ability to move people, supplies, food, and water into and out of a region without either can be quite beneficial. You could even provide folks the power they need to do repairs in the community if you have a car with solar generation potential (the future Sion and Aptera are excellent examples). As a result, your community uses fewer resources that may otherwise benefit folks who don’t have an EV neighbor.
Even if your automobile isn’t able to produce power, it may nevertheless transport a lot of it from outside the afflicted area or, if you have one, from your home solar array. Even employing a LEAF for self-propelled energy storage and reaction has been tested by Nissan.
THE CONCLUSION A modern connected EV is not only a solution, but in many circumstances is the solution if you’re a prepper or simply care about keeping yourself, your family, your business, and your community safer. When other automobiles can perform a task, an EV typically outperforms them and can perform tasks that no other vehicle is capable of.
So, I’d give getting one considerable thought.
Nissan provided the main image.
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