Superstorm Sandy Raises Concerns About EVs

Long lines of motorists snake through New Jersey shore communities still buried under the sand tossed inland by Superstorm Sandy. The scene repeats itself in New York City and its suburbs, and up along the storm-ravaged coast. Even as the Northeast digs out from under the devastation, frustrations continue to mount over gasoline shortages that have left many motorists unable to fill up. The problem isn’t a lack of gasoline but the power to run pumps.

The events underscore the potential problem Americans face after a major disaster, whether it be a superstorm, an earthquake, a tsunami, or a terrorist attack that guts a region’s infrastructure. Motorists, whatever they drive, are particularly vulnerable to the loss of electricity that can shut down filling stations all over a crowded region like New York – or Chicago, Washington, or Los Angeles, for that matter.

"The problem will go away when the power is restored, and it won’t go away if it’s not," Tom Kloza, Chief Oil Analyst at the Oil Price Information Service said.

Much of the region struck by Superstorm Sandy has already gotten back to a semblance of normality – meaning at least the electricity is back. At its peak, about 8.5 million customers were without power, according to authorities. About seventy-five percent of those back on the grid, with the utility Public Service Electric and Gas reporting that all major refineries, notably including Exxon and Hess facilities in Elizabeth, are powered up. Some areas remain harder hit than others, however, particularly parts of the Jersey Shore and the New York City borough of Staten Island, and could go weeks more without electricity.

The superstorm raises concerns about the limits of electric vehicles in emergencies like the one that devastated the coast. Most battery cars on the market today can run less than 100 miles — on a full charge. Considering the massive size of Sandy, whose wrath was felt along an estimated eight hundred miles of coastline, that would barely be enough to get out of harm’s way, though more than enough to at least get waterfront residents to higher ground.

In the aftermath, battery cars are potentially even more vulnerable in that there are relatively few public charging facilities, especially those offering higher voltage capabilities for quick charging. In many cases, owners would have to find a working 110-volt outlet and wait as much as a full day to get another one hundred miles of range.

An opportunity can, nonetheless, be seen for electric vehicles in the form of solar-powered charging stations such as one which debuted in August 2012 at Princeton Satellite Systems, Plainsboro, NJ. Called a SunStation, it employs solar panels to recharge electric vehicles, even two at the same time. The company says their EV charger can charge a Prius hybrid plug-in in 1.5 hours, a Chevy Volt in 5 hours, and a Nissan Leaf in eight.

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