Lots we *do not know*.
One of the principle reasons people do not attack with EMP is *no one* really knows what will happen and how much of what technolgies will go down.
Worst case is critical components of most electrical and electronic gear is destroyed. That is a very unlikely scenario. In my friends work, only about a third of running vehicles were completely disabled, for example.
Best case is a significant fraction.
For an attacker, anything less than the entire grid being down for months is pretty bad, because of counterstrikes.
If it is worse case, yes, 90% of people on the coasts die.
The percentage of deaths drop dramatically as the damage decreases.
Leave 10% of the Country mostly intact, and the death rate plummets.
An attacker hates that much uncertainty.
Also, President Trump ran, in part, on hardening the electrical grid. I believe that work is proceeding. A little protection goes a long way, both in preserving the grid and making an attackers life much more uncertain.
Counterstrikes would be completely independent from the power grid and would certainly happen. If it weren’t for that, we’d have already been nuked.
“For an attacker, anything less than the entire grid being down for months is pretty bad, because of counterstrikes. “
Nuclear systems do not rely on the public power grid, so that statement makes no sense.
A little protection goes a long way, both in preserving the grid and making an attackers life much more uncertain
Gas stations should have at least one fuel pump that can be operated using an emergency hand crank.