Rolfe
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... and all the electric cars were running out of battery.
Well, that's the story I was told in the Post Office this afternoon. Of course it was second-hand and I don't even know where this immense traffic jam is supposed to have happened.
I mused that EVs don't use much energy at very low speeds, so I was surprised. Oh well, came the answer, the traffic was constantly inching forward, just a wee bit at a time, and it was a shame really, all these electric cars were stranded because their batteries were empty.
This smells a bit like an urban legend to me. Is it even likely that an EV battery would drain in six hours under these conditions? If it is an issue, and you're stuck in a jam like that and you see your charge going down, what should you do? Switch of the AC/heating and audio systems for a start, I assume. In an ICE car, if I was low on petrol, I'd switch off the engine until a gap had opened up in front of me then switch it on, drive to close the gap, then switch it off again, rinse and repeat. Even then, though, I've sometimes wondered whether constantly restarting the car might be counterproductive.
Thinking about it, if this was me and I was getting worried by the car eating electrons and I couldn't see a way out, I think I'd try to get it in to the side of the road, power off and simply sit it out until the road cleared, however long it took, rather than let the battery drain. If I couldn't get to the side of the road I'd simply sit where I was and let other vehicles do what they liked. Anything but allow the battery to run down. But would that even happen? Interesting intellectual exercise.
Well, that's the story I was told in the Post Office this afternoon. Of course it was second-hand and I don't even know where this immense traffic jam is supposed to have happened.
I mused that EVs don't use much energy at very low speeds, so I was surprised. Oh well, came the answer, the traffic was constantly inching forward, just a wee bit at a time, and it was a shame really, all these electric cars were stranded because their batteries were empty.
This smells a bit like an urban legend to me. Is it even likely that an EV battery would drain in six hours under these conditions? If it is an issue, and you're stuck in a jam like that and you see your charge going down, what should you do? Switch of the AC/heating and audio systems for a start, I assume. In an ICE car, if I was low on petrol, I'd switch off the engine until a gap had opened up in front of me then switch it on, drive to close the gap, then switch it off again, rinse and repeat. Even then, though, I've sometimes wondered whether constantly restarting the car might be counterproductive.
Thinking about it, if this was me and I was getting worried by the car eating electrons and I couldn't see a way out, I think I'd try to get it in to the side of the road, power off and simply sit it out until the road cleared, however long it took, rather than let the battery drain. If I couldn't get to the side of the road I'd simply sit where I was and let other vehicles do what they liked. Anything but allow the battery to run down. But would that even happen? Interesting intellectual exercise.