Posted on 01/05/2022 9:23:44 AM PST by Renkluaf
h/t gringojay – An ice storm and accident stranded drivers in freezing conditions on the Virginia I-95 overnight on Monday. My question – what would have happened if they were all driving electric vehicles?
27-hour commute: Virginia officials pelted with questions after hundreds of drivers were stuck on I-95 overnight
Ryan W. MillerDoyle Rice USA TODAY
The winter storm blanketed several states in the mid-Atlantic and South on Monday, closing schools and causing power outages.
In Virginia, drivers were stranded in a 50-mile stretch of Interstate 95 near Fredericksburg overnight. Five deaths across three states were caused by the weather.
Ice and snow stranded hundreds of drivers on Interstate 95 in Virginia into Tuesday after a winter storm pounded several Eastern states and dumped more than a foot of snow in some places.
The storm brought havoc to roadways, left more than 300,000 without power in Virginia and Maryland and caused at least five deaths across three states.
No injuries or fatalities from the storm or the traffic backup were reported in Virginia.
Problems began Monday morning when a truck jackknifed on Interstate 95, the main north-south highway along the East Coast, triggering a swift chain reaction as other vehicles lost control, state police said.
On a roughly 50-mile stretch of I-95 near Fredericksburg, drivers were stuck in their cars overnight while ice blanketed the freeway. The Virginia Department of Transportation tweeted Tuesday that the stretch of the interstate remained closed.
…
Josh Lederman, a reporter with NBC News, tweeted that he was stuck in his car overnight and many motorists turned off their cars to conserve gas.
“People (myself included) are taking exercise breaks outside their cars, walking their dogs on the interstate. I’ve been putting snow in his bowl and letting it melt into water,” he tweeted, detailing the ordeal.
Sen. Kaine finally arrived in Washington Tuesday afternoon, some 27 hours after his journey began.
Drivers survived the Monday traffic jam by periodically running their engines to stay warm. When the traffic finally started moving again, most vehicles had enough gasoline to finish their journeys.
President Biden is pushing everyone to switch to electric vehicles, as part of his Net Zero plan. But EV batteries suffer severe performance drops in freezing conditions, and are more likely than gasoline engines to fail completely in severe conditions. Even if the EV batteries don’t freeze, an EV battery contains nowhere near as much energy as a tank of gas, so the safety margin is a lot thinner, for people stranded in severe weather who are using the stored energy of their vehicle to stay warm.
In my opinion, if everyone stuck on the I-95 had been driving an EV, the I-95 ice storm traffic jam could have become a mass casualty event.
Great— heaters for a car that thereafter can’t go far enough anywhere to get another coal fired power plant charge up. As a test bed for batteries, Tesla is demonstrating how lousy they are, and driving the Chi-Coms on their minerals domination.
I’m sure the batteries will keep the cabin very comfortable if the outside temperature is 72F.
Glenn Youngkin isn’t even in office yet but it’s his fault. Unbelievable
Tesla said if the car is not moving their heaters will work for 72 hours on a full or nearly full charge + or - depending on severity of the outside temperature.
/\
If
Or
Nearly
Depending
Severity
5 weasel words
1 weasel statment
0 credibility
It’s as if they never knew it was snowing.
Highly evolved beings that they are...
Liberals would consider several hundred people frozen to death simply a small start on their goal to kill off 90% of humanity.
Sadly he hasn’t switched to an EV yet.
“In my opinion, if everyone stuck on the I-95 had been driving an EV, the I-95 ice storm traffic jam could have become a mass casualty event.”
Absolutely false.
Ok, I’ll grant you that maybe that statement is just a wee bit hyperbolic.
Anyone who has lived north of the Mason-Dixon Line knows to keep your gas tank at 3/4 full during the winter. And you don’t leave it running all night.
These people learned a valuable lesson.
“Even if the EV batteries don’t freeze, an EV battery contains nowhere near as much energy as a tank of gas, so the safety margin is a lot thinner, for people stranded in severe weather who are using the stored energy of their vehicle to stay warm.”
Battery heaters prevent freezing and improve performance in cold weather.
The tank of gas contains more energy but most of that energy goes to running the engine and keeping it warm, not heating the passengers.
Lol…where does the energy to run the battery heaters come from?
Only an imbecile would drive an EV near snow and ice.
So call me stupid then. I guess that because I was listening to an audiobook instead of being glued to traffic reports I’m a moron?
Yes, I got stuck in it. My expected eight hour drive became 24 instead.
The road was worse than I’ve ever seen. Virginia DOT basically admitted they had no idea how bad it was because their cameras were down. (Twitter)
The storm was over by then but I guess they don’t have access to any helicopters.
In ten hours of virtual standstill I saw one state truck, plowing a closed express road.
I would have liked to have seen even attempts at being proactive.
A better answer is a 12 volt electric blanket that you can plug in. It will pull several amps but you can wrap it around you rather than trying to warm the whole cabin. It could be a better solution than only using the engine for heat. They’re on Amazon and cheap.
Virginia DOT doesn’t have jerry cans of electricity?
On another note, I wonder how many married guys in that mess were giving female co-workers a lift to work?😎
Make sure they are unvaccinated and count them as COVID deaths
It’s the democrat way.
You know... gasoline powered cars do run out of gas.
What caused the bloody thing in the first plact? Should have been cleared as soon as it was reported. A couple National Guard tank retrievers and/or heavy duty rescue trucks could remove anything. They easily handle these things in Canada.
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