During our first winter at our home in the woods near Lake Michigan, we discovered the necessity of having an additional power source available, along with snow clearing capability beyond the blowers and shovels we were accustomed to using. Last week, the natural gas powered generator we installed outside the house tested itself (as it does every other Tuesday) and appears to be ready to handle a power outage from the gusting winds that are supposed to increase tonight and take out parts of the grid. Our older but trusty 2008 gasoline powered Chevy truck (260,000+ miles) has its blades on and is prepared for more plowing, with today's preliminary round of driveway clearing completed. However, the errands and gift distribution I'd hoped to complete before Christmas will need to wait for a few days as we are well and truly in the grip of an out of the ordinary weather event.
At sunset, it was 5 degrees out (down from last night’s 37), with 5-7 inches of snow on the ground and more to come from the lake-effect conditions (cold air blowing across the lake) that will likely continue through Saturday. Currently the wind and whiteouts are making road travel of more than a few miles difficult to impossible to manage. In addition to the Gale Warning and Blizzard Warning issued, there’s also a Heavy Freezing Spray Warning for all vessels on Lake Michigan, including the huge cargo/ore carriers. It warns of freezing spray at a rate of up to one inch per hour rapidly accumulating on decks and superstructures resulting in catastrophic loss of stability in heavy waves. Not only are we having a White Christmas, everyone but the most essential workers in our area are Home (if not in port) for the Holidays.
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Electric cars are showing their vulnerabilities to climate (wet and cold) that make them unsafe and undependable without a major redesign,.
Perhaps the ghastly weather we've had is God's way of revealing the flaws of the infernal Leftist machines.
PS We've also learned Mother Nature is making more oil, even as we speak, so Peak Oil is as big a lie as Greenhouse Gases.
I spent forty years on the Northern Tier with the Air Force and National Guard. I saw first hand how extreme cold, and heat, can shorten the service life and the charge capacity of every kind of battery. I learned real quick that if your auto battery had more than two winters on it, you had better change it out before the next one. EV batteries are no different. Below 40*F performance drops of severely, plus you are adding all sorts of additional power consumption in the form of lights, heat, blowers, etc. Below Zero, it drops even faster. There are several stretches of very lonely highway i Vermont I would not want to take and EV on in a January snowstorm. Especially where the mountains block ALL radio signals, and it is a LONG way between houses, let alone towns or service stations. No, electric vehicles are NOT ready for prime time, and that's not even considering the battery fire hazards.
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