Wired reporter looking for Leaf owner affected by Sandy

[lavrinc]

Hey folks –

We're working on a story about how EVs are holding up in the northeast after power was lost. If you're willing to chat, drop me a line at [email protected] or give me a call at 415-276-5107.

Thanks!

 

[TonyWilliams]

Hey folks –

We're working on a story about how EVs are holding up in the northeast after power was lost. If you're willing to chat, drop me a line at [email protected] or give me a call at 415-276-5107.

Thanks!

Did you see the story with the guy who hooked up a 1000 watt inverter to his LEAF to power the refrigerator?

 

[lavrinc]

Did you see the story with the guy who hooked up a 1000 watt inverter to his LEAF to power the refrigerator?

I haven't. Do you have a link?

 

[TonyWilliams]

Did you see the story with the guy who hooked up a 1000 watt inverter to his LEAF to power the refrigerator?

I haven't. Do you have a link?

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=240384#p240384" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[thankyouOB]

I was in NYC for the storm and five days. from what I saw, and what I hear from my sister on LI, I would much rather be using a LEAF and waiting for power to come back on -- and in many places it has -- than have an ICE and waiting hours and hours in line hoping there was gasoline left when I got to the front.
They are severely restricting their ICE use because of the gasoline shortage. While they have power out at home, there is power at her husband's office and parking garage in Queens.

 

[surfingslovak]

Did you see the story with the guy who hooked up a 1000 watt inverter to his LEAF to power the refrigerator?

I haven't. Do you have a link?

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=240384#p240384" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Also this newscast. For additional details, see this thread.


Click to open

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

I was in NYC for the storm and five days. from what I saw, and what I hear from my sister on LI, I would much rather be using a LEAF and waiting for power to come back on -- and in many places it has -- than have an ICE and waiting hours and hours in line hoping there was gasoline left when I got to the front.
They are severely restricting their ICE use because of the gasoline shortage. While they have power out at home, there is power at her husband's office and parking garage in Queens.

ya, on Priuschat some people were saying they are storing 40 gallons of gas in 5 gal containers. no comments on their local laws but here that is illegal. only allowed to store less than a gallon (obviously a lot of people violate that law in summer) to be used for gas powered lawn equipment, etc. only.

you can get a permit to store more gasoline but its a major $$ option since it must be in approved container, be secured, have spill containment field... and be inspected (which is not free...) on a regular basis and a bunch of other stuff i am sure...

 

[siai]

This is going off topic, but with laws like you have, how do you park a ICE vehicle in a garage? Large SUV's can hold more then 30 gallons of gasoline and there is no "spill containment". And what if you owned more then one?

 

[NYLEAF]

I was in NYC for the storm and five days. from what I saw, and what I hear from my sister on LI, I would much rather be using a LEAF and waiting for power to come back on -- and in many places it has -- than have an ICE and waiting hours and hours in line hoping there was gasoline left when I got to the front.
They are severely restricting their ICE use because of the gasoline shortage. While they have power out at home, there is power at her husband's office and parking garage in Queens.

I e-mailed with the OP and was trying to explain that this really is the bigger story here, IMHO. I just got home from work, it's midnight, and I passed two gas stations that are functioning. On a normal day, I'd pass 30+. These two stations both have police controlling the lines, and the lines are hundreds and hundreds of cars long. I'm absolutely much happier with my Leaf right now. People are literally sleeping in their cars just to make sure they get some gas when the station opens again. The OP, unfortunately, was focusing more on the "how will you charge your car with no power" aspect of the story, which seems a bit negative, and now that most people have regained power, irrelevant. Even for those EV owners without power at home, there are other places to go to charge. The nice thing about electricity is that it's just about everywhere, and even when it's not, there are options for making it yourself, at home. Can't make gasoline at home!

 

[smkettner]

This is going off topic, but with laws like you have, how do you park a ICE vehicle in a garage? Large SUV's can hold more then 30 gallons of gasoline and there is no "spill containment". And what if you owned more then one?

Potential long term storage is different from in use.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

This is going off topic, but with laws like you have, how do you park a ICE vehicle in a garage? Large SUV's can hold more then 30 gallons of gasoline and there is no "spill containment". And what if you owned more then one?

i did not write the law but its easy for me to understand its purpose.

couple things about why spill containment is needed and biggest reason? we are careless slobs. unless you plan to siphon fuel from your vehicle, i would say the risk of a spill is neglible. iow; the gas tank of your car is your fuel's "final resting place" it is not there for the purpose of being stored and then being moved to another container

another thing. how would you feel if you knew your neighbor was storing several containers of fuel in an unlocked shed with little children around just a few feet from your home?

now, all this assumes a lot, but unfortunately our society needs to assume a lot when writing laws which is the reason they are such a pain to read, write and understand. there is no such thing as laws "written in a nutshell" that is what lawyers are for. they read the gobbledygook and relay it to us in "American" so we can understand it.

i tried to find an article written back about 2005 where a study showed that the Puget Sound received an oil products spill equivalent to the Exxon Valdez every 3-5 years from spills, leaks, lawbreakers, etc thru the storm drainage system. a poll done right after that in the local paper, more than 60% of respondents admitted to either seeing it done or doing it themselves where they simply took used oil and either burned it or buried it in the backyard or simply dumped it into the storm drain

 

[mkjayakumar]

While the OP expresses an interest to 'Know how EVs are holding up' the subject is about 'Leafs owners affected by Sandy'.

The subject gives the impression that the reporter is fishing for a story to give a negative spin on EVs, and hope that Fox will pick it up. I am sure if you look really hard there might be someone whose battery might have been bricked due to extended power outage. And of course the Fisker fires makes a great visual and a great story that Romney surrogates can latch on to.

 

[surfingslovak]

While the OP expresses an interest to 'Know how EVs are holding up' the subject is about 'Leafs owners affected by Sandy'.

The subject gives the impression that the reporter is fishing for a story to give a negative spin on EVs, and hope that Fox will pick it up. I am sure if you look really hard there might be someone whose battery might have been bricked due to extended power outage. And of course the Fisker fires makes a great visual and a great story that Romney surrogates can latch on to.

Jay, that's a fair concern. If you look up some of the articles Damon wrote, you might come to a different conclusion:

Tesla Model SA 4-Day Test Drive of the Tesla S — Elon Musk’s Tesla S

Tesla hasn’t just created a fully functional EV. It’s made a vehicle that’s both incredibly engaging and fully practical. As with any car, compromises were made — we’ll be delving into those more deeply on future Autopia reports, so stay tuned — but as a whole, the Model S feels and drives like the future. It’s a rolling testament to the potential of automotive innovation, and a massive leap forward for an industry struggling to stake a claim in the 21st century.

 

[lavrinc]

While the OP expresses an interest to 'Know how EVs are holding up' the subject is about 'Leafs owners affected by Sandy'.

The subject gives the impression that the reporter is fishing for a story to give a negative spin on EVs, and hope that Fox will pick it up. I am sure if you look really hard there might be someone whose battery might have been bricked due to extended power outage. And of course the Fisker fires makes a great visual and a great story that Romney surrogates can latch on to.

Hardly my intentions. I'm looking for the truth about how EV drivers were affected by the storm. And more interestingly, how EVs were helping to power people's homes during the outage.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

More than enough negativity from this event. Need some feel good

 

[videographer]

Pardon the practical question, but when the inverter is wired in between the 12v battery and the inverter ground, does the Leaf have to be turned on to make the juice flow?

 

[surfingslovak]

Pardon the practical question, but when the inverter is wired in between the 12v battery and the inverter ground, does the Leaf have to be turned on to make the juice flow?

Yes, the Leaf needs to be in Ready Mode, as mentioned in one of the earlier threads.

 

[mkjayakumar]

lavrinc: Good to know your intentions.

But if someone is eagerly waiting to read an article about Sandy and EV, your wait has ended. Predictable nonsense. After the first paragraph of making negative inferences of EVs and Sandy, the rest is all usual recycled trash.

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2012/11/04/long-gas-lines-still-dont-make-evs-a-buy.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[surfingslovak]

Not all the stories were negative. Brad Berman wrote a more flattering piece in the NYT based on an interview with Tom Moloughney, which goes back to the activity in our Facebook group. Nearly half of the ActiveE trial participants lives on the East Coast.

Electric Car Owners Unfazed by Storm

Like other E.V. owners in the area, Mr. Moloughney shifted from relying mostly on home charging to juicing up at a public charger in an unaffected area. The map of towns with and without power is like a checkerboard, but with a little planning, electric fuel may be more available than gasoline. Many gas stations have been shut down, even if they have gasoline, because power failures disabled the gas pumps.

 

[PorlockJunior]

This seems to be the thread I was looking for when I logged on. Thanks to all for the info, and especially the news story on powering things on an inverter off the 12-V battery.

Is there any more to be said about practical considerations in using the car for emergency power? It has been clear to me that you can plug a little inverter into the car and run some low-load stuff, not to mention charging phones without even that much high tech. Cabling a kilowatt inverter to the 12V battery and running something serious on it was beyond the scope of my ideas.

Before I start planning my equipment order from the people up north who cater to the off-grid community, is there anything non-obvious about the whole business, peculiar to this unusual power source?

It would be kinda fun to run a couple of laptops and perhaps the Internet link if the phone lines are up (they usually are), all in front of a cozy hardwood fire. And that wouldn't even require much more inverter than the sort that plugs into the cigarette lighter.