Living with a LEAF in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy

[tps]

I've had no power at the house since Monday 9PM. I've been recharging he car from a 120 VAC outlet in the parking garage at the office.

 

[adric22]

I've had no power at the house since Monday 9PM. I've been recharging he car from a 120 VAC outlet in the parking garage at the office.

This is something I've wondered about. Can you give us an idea (to be fair) how many gas stations are inoperative?

Another thing I'm curious about. What would be your Plan-C, so to speak, if charging at work was not an option or if power was out at work too?

 

[eclecticflower]

We've been watching the disasterous results of Sandy on the news in KC and have been keeping vigil, hoping things will turn around for you and all the victims very soon. Such a sad event. Glad to know you're still able to drive and get a charge.
-Kathy

 

[essaunders]

I lost power at ~3pm on Monday. I had done a 100% charge Sunday night.

My work is only 7 miles from my home, but with errands etc I usually end up doing ~20 miles per day. Monday, what with high wind and rain, resulted in a (low for me) 3.8mpk.

No charging Monday night or Tuesday night. Wednesday, with no confidence in getting power back at home, I "found" a 120V plug at work for 3 hours. I figured that would get me to work one more day.

I got power back on Wednesday afternoon, so all is well for me. Carwings reports I used about 14kwh over my three days. I figured, even without my Wednesday trickle charging I would still have made it to and from work today (Thrusday). Friday would have been in serious doubt without charging.

I've always figured I could "drive all week" on one charge. This week was the first time I've even come close to testing that.

 

[NYLEAF]

I had no power for about 24 hours (Monday night until Tuesday night). I had the car fully charged. Since then, I've had power at my home, and I've been able to use and charge my Leaf as normal.

However, in the same few days, the gasoline situation in my area has become absolutely unbelievable. I'd say 95% (or more) of gas stations in the NYC area have either no gas to sell or no electricity to pump it with. The few that do have lines that are 2+ hours long. From what I understand, you wait in that line for 2 hours for the ability to buy a maximum of $30 of Premium fuel, since that's all that's left. The rumors say that we may not see gas again for a week or more. Cars are starting to be abandoned wherever they run out of gas -- on the side of the highway, middle of the road, whatever.

For the first time ever, my co-workers have stopped making fun of my Leaf. Now they're jealous.

 

[cwerdna]

^^^
Re: the gas situation. That's crazy. The news had been talking about gas lines like those of the 70s.

Last night, the national news showed a massive gas line that (I believe) ended on a freeway. What was shocking/annoying was that I saw a Hummer H2 in the line. :roll: What a terrible vehicle to take to gas station in such a situation. Those have 32 gallon tanks, were exempt from EPA FE testing (due to their GVWR >8500 lbs., so EPA FE rating is unknown) and I hear they get typically 9 to 11 mpg.

I hope that H2 owner sees the light and dumps it for a more efficient vehicle in near the future.

 

[surfingslovak]

Re: the gas situation. That's crazy. The news had been talking about gas lines like those of the 70s.

Just to add a bit to the discussion, Tom Moloughney posted the following photo in the ActiveE FB group the other day along with this description. This sure makes you feel a lot better about having solar on the roof and an EV in the garage.

Just found an open gas station. Hundreds of people on line to fill up gas cans.

As hard as it is to believe it's actually gotten much worse in one day. Now only a few gas stations have gas and power and the lines are incredible hundreds of cars stretching for at least three quarters of a mile from every gas station trying to get gas. And now electric cars are starting to show up at Nauna's to charge we had a Nissan leaf and a Mitsubishi i come by yesterday to charge.

 

[edatoakrun]

The problem with depending on a gas-fueled generator for an extended period of grid failure is...gas.

...“People need gas,” he said. “The temperature keeps dropping. It was really cold last night.”

As long as people have gas for their generators so they can keep warm, they will stay calm. But he expects problems if gas stations do not get a new supply.

“Once the gas runs out, people will start panicking,” he said. “There will be more fires. People will use books, wood, anything they can. Without electricity, you start to go a little crazy.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/jersey-shore-begins-to-register-sandys-devastation/2012/11/01/6ff0bea2-2468-11e2-9313-3c7f59038d93_story_2.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[tps]

I've had no power at the house since Monday 9PM. I've been recharging he car from a 120 VAC outlet in the parking garage at the office.

This is something I've wondered about. Can you give us an idea (to be fair) how many gas stations are inoperative?

Another thing I'm curious about. What would be your Plan-C, so to speak, if charging at work was not an option or if power was out at work too?

I would say about 40% - 50% of the gas stations were initially affected, however most are back online by now. They seem to be busier than usual.

If commerical power had been out at work, some of our critical stuff is backed up by a generator with 200 gallons of fuel. It would require a bit of work to get from the generator breaker panel to the car, but I would have to figure out something. I have an upgraded Nissan/Panasonic EVSE, so if I had to run a line it probably would have been a 240V line.. Peruzzi Nissan right down the road from my office has power, I might be able to charge there. So I have plan "C" and "D". I have had absolutely no anxiety that I would be able to get where I needed to go. I know where I can charge, unlike those with uncertainty as to which gas stations are open and have gas.

 

[mwalsh]

So gas stations have no power. What about mechanical pumps? And cash transactions into a measured device, like a 5 gallon container, so it can be charged for accordingly. There seem to be solutions that nobody is considering because "it's too much work". Really?

I dislike these anti-government, survivalist types for many reasons. But one thing I'm pretty sure of...they wouldn't be needing to wait on the government for much of anything.

 

[adric22]

I dislike these anti-government, survivalist types for many reasons. But one thing I'm pretty sure of...they wouldn't be needing to wait on the government for much of anything.

Yep - and many of these people actually enjoy these moments because at last they get to show everyone they were really smart for taking the time to prepare, while other people have to wait for help.

I'm a bit of a survivalist myself. I carry an emergency duffle bag in the back of my Leaf with a variety of survival gear including a handheld ham radio, medicines, bottles of water, food, etc. I also stock plenty of things in the home that would be of use during an emergency like this. However, I'm only prepared for a problem that lasts a few days or weeks. I'm not one of the kind that try to prepare for a zombie invasion.

 

[smkettner]

This past summer I came across an old fuel station owned by an old man that had a working gas pump with the glass top and you had to pull the lever to bring the fuel up. It was a sight to see him fill a Model A pick up. The whole transaction took about 15 minutes to get 10 gallons. Even if every station had one they could not fill the cars fast enough.

 

[mwalsh]

This past summer I came across an old fuel station owned by an old man that had a working gas pump with the glass top and you had to pull the lever to bring the fuel up. It was a sight to see him fill a Model A pick up. The whole transaction took about 15 minutes to get 10 gallons. Even if every station had one they could not fill the cars fast enough.

Not cars. Cans. 5 gallons max per person, say. Better than nothing, right? And I'm sure a pump operated by some other mechanism than a hand lever can be had a not much more cost.

 

[elmobob]

I live in Yonkers NY, luckily I never lost power, I work at a hospital so I've had to show up every day to work. No issues here, I appreciate having this car so much more now after seeing half mile long lines to get gas. It took my brother 3 hours in line to get a max of 10 gallons. Some of my co-workers had to leave their cars parked at work because they where running so low on gas. My wife's job is still closed because the building still has no electricity, if this gas shortage carries on to next week and she gets called back to work she fortunately filled up her ICE car before the storm.

 

[fooljoe]

So gas stations have no power. What about mechanical pumps? And cash transactions into a measured device, like a 5 gallon container, so it can be charged for accordingly. There seem to be solutions that nobody is considering because "it's too much work". Really?

Yeah that's one idea, but... Are there really no gas stations that have backup generators? You're sitting on 1000s of gallons of gas but you can't sell it to anyone because you can't burn a little bit of it to keep the pumps on? Really?

 

[davewill]

So gas stations have no power. What about mechanical pumps? And cash transactions into a measured device, like a 5 gallon container, so it can be charged for accordingly. There seem to be solutions that nobody is considering because "it's too much work". Really?

Yeah that's one idea, but... Are there really no gas stations that have backup generators? You're sitting on 1000s of gallons of gas but you can't sell it to anyone because you can't burn a little bit of it to keep the pumps on? Really?

Businesses just don't spend money on things they don't need in the normal course of business. You would think it would be worth renting a generator set considering that you could easily raise prices to compensate.

 

[fooljoe]

Well I actually heard on the radio this morning about a gas station that did have a generator to keep its pumps going (and of course is experiencing huge lines of people waiting to fill up.) So at least some stations managed to plan ahead for events like this. I imagine they made back the capital cost of that generator in about an hour.

 

[mwalsh]

Well I actually heard on the radio this morning about a gas station that did have a generator to keep its pumps going (and of course is experiencing huge lines of people waiting to fill up.) So at least some stations managed to plan ahead for events like this. I imagine they made back the capital cost of that generator in about an hour.

Well that's good. Someone had sense.

Going forward, I guess any governmental body dealing with a crisis like this has to learn that (apparently) gas stations have to be a priority. Gasoline seems to be one of those things that people are just not going to stand going without for long.

 

[Smidge204]

Businesses just don't spend money on things they don't need in the normal course of business. You would think it would be worth renting a generator set considering that you could easily raise prices to compensate.

Oddly enough, gas prices are about the same as they were all through October - maybe even a bit cheaper - despite the shortage. Go figure!
=Smidge=

 

[Herm]

Its the law in Florida, all gas stations have generator backup.. many large supermarkets do also.

Well I actually heard on the radio this morning about a gas station that did have a generator to keep its pumps going (and of course is experiencing huge lines of people waiting to fill up.) So at least some stations managed to plan ahead for events like this. I imagine they made back the capital cost of that generator in about an hour.