If we have an electrical power failure, would the electric cars also have a power failure?

Question

In other words, if a person or persons drive around in their electric cars, and the city they live in has a power failure, would their cars have a power failure as well?

Answer 1

No, electric cars run on batteries--they aren't plugged in (man would that take some extension cord!)

They would still work, just like battery-operated radios and such work during a power failure.  I suppose if the power failure was for an extended period of time, you would have problems recharging your electric car if it needed to be plugged in to recharge.

If there was an electromagnetic pulse as the result of an explosion, I think it might be affected by that because all new cars have electronics in them, but that's entirely different.

Answer 2

NO

Answer 3

Not if they're running on batteries. If they're running on rails like an electric train then, yes it would lose power.

Answer 4

Yes and No.  Electric cars batteries are recharged with electrical sources.  So if you had no electricity to recharge your vehicle, the vehicle could not operate.  A hybrid on the other hand, uses the engine to charge the battery while driving via an alternator.  A strictly electric car would work during a power failure but when it came time to recharge, you'd be out of luck.

Answer 5

No, not as long as the batteries in the electric car are charged. But after using the car for a few hours you would need more electricity to charge up your car batteries. Then you would have a problem if the power failure was still going on in your city.

Answer 6

not only could the car still run on the stored energy, but if not driving anywhere it could power the home or grid. http://www.acpropulsion.com/technology/v...

modern cars, eg http://www.teslamotors.com , store enough energy to drive 200 miles and can be topped up when parked at home or work. So there will be a lot of stored capacity distributed around.

And tesla will help set-up your own micro-generator for little more than some people pay for leather seats, so you could have complete transport fuel independence.

or you could fit solar pannels to the vehicle http://www.solarvan.co.uk .