A Model 3 driven at low speed (say, 40 mph) can do substantially better than this–around 9 kWh/100 km (or 150 Wh/mi).
I have some thin, flexible 100 W panels. They’re ~2 kg each and 2.5 mm thick. I think I could fit about 100 of them in my Model 3. Would take up most of the trunk and rear seats, but there would be some room left over.
Laid flat on the ground (with some stakes to hold them in place), I think they could get an equivalent of about 4 hours of good sunlight a day. That’s 40 kWh, or >400 km. As you say, you’d have to alternate days, but you’d still be averaging over 200 km a day.
With a decent system, I don’t think it would take more than a couple of hours to set up. The panels don’t weigh much and they have simple connectors. You’d have so many of them that you could deal with a few going bad. And they’re all pretty repairable against wear-and-tear type stuff.
Oh, you would need a 10 kW inverter of some kind, and ideally an MPPT solar charge controller. That’s doable. Probably not a lightweight thing but it could be left in the car.
Immortan Joe seems like a reasonable man. I think I could convince him that guzzoline is an unsustainable resource, and in any case the wide separation of Gas Town from the Citadel means he is vulnerable to attack. Switching his War Rigs and the Gigahorse to solar electric would prove to be a distinct advantage over his enemies.
Another problem no one seems to be considering is that everything is tied to the electrical grid.
Back in 2005 Hurricane Wilma came through South Florida and left most of the area without power for a long period of time. My house was without power for two weeks, and no one was filling up their tanks since there were very few gas stations that still had operational pumps.
So in that situation, it doesn’t matter if you have an EV or an ICE, you are still limited to how much charge/fuel you had before the crisis happened. I also think it would be easier to find ways to generate electricity to charge an EV rather than to continue to try to dig up and refine oil after the apocalypse.
Owning a 2019 Nissan Leaf now, I don’t see myself at any more of a disadvantage than an ICE owner.
To add to this, after the 2011 Earthquake/Tsunami hit Japan, electrical grid power returned to some affected areas long before gasoline/diesel shipments did. The EV’s were still running while everything else was not.
I don’t know how hurricane proof roof top solar is, but potentially you’d be able to use that to charge your vehicle (and keep your food and beer cold).
I moved from Florida in 2012 and have been living in California mostly since. So no hurricanes to worry about here (just fires, earthquakes, etc.).
Once I have a place of my own, I plan to install solar, but I think it actually wouldn’t be as effective in Florida as it is here. Florida may be known as the ‘Sunshine State’, but it has a lot of rain and cloud cover that would make solar less efficient. We had DirecTV satellite TV and about a third of the days in a year we would get an intermittent signal because of all the clouds and rain.
The author of “The African Queen” made a special point that the (steam engine) Queen was ideally suited for its purpose because it could be refueled anywhere along the river. Of course, water for the boiler wasn’t a problem either.
if you are traveling in an area where water might be a concern, you could look into one of the better Stirling engines. It would be low power. But continually noodling along under low power would still beat short bursts of travel and then having to sit around waiting for the batteries to recharge.
One of the new e-bikes with fat tires would be a good idea, I think. A small enough battery that it could be charged from almost any source in a few hours, that gives you motor power for when you need it, but can still function as a bike when traveling on good flat areas, or when recharging the battery isn’t practical. The fat tires on my new bike seem pretty good at going over rough surfaces, and seem robust enough that flat tires aren’t a huge concern.
Find one with racks, that can haul a trailer, and you’d be pretty well set, I think. If you’re going nomad, you’re not going to be living in luxury no matter how you do it.
I think a good e-bike would last you quite a long while. A horse might be nicer, but horses require daily maintenance or they die - I can store a bike for a few weeks or even months without any problem. Plus, it will take years to breed up enough horses to make them a practical replacement for even a fraction of our current transportation needs. At first, horses will be the luxury car of the apocalypse - only for those rich enough to afford them.
Since we’ve already more or less gone over the numbers for the answer in regards to powering said EV for an apocalypse, I wanted to have fun by discussing some of the other merits or lack thereof for EV in an apocalypse. Because when I was reading the thread, I kept wondering which apocalypse to plan for. In my mind, there are really only two, with an important sub-category for a third.
Low population apocalypse, best example, the Stand.
Result? - ICE wins. Here, there’s almost no one left (99.7% fatality). But almost everyTHING is left. So, yeah, no grid or power generation available, but all the fuel and part you can scrounge. Sure, the fuel will degrade over time, but you can do all the prep you want ahead of time in terms of stabilization or going to military facilities with long term storage options. They’re all open. Plus, you don’t really need to worry about a nomadic life. Pick a place and fort up - unless you’re doing the go out and look for survivors, at which point, well, if one vehicle breaks down, you’re spoiled for choice on the next.
High population apocalypse, which is most for varying values of ‘high’. Here, IMHO, EV is very competitive, and has one big advantage over ICE as well. Here, your concern is do other survivors value what you have enough to take it from you? Any functional vehicle is going to be a possible target, so fuel type is a wash. Assuming you get your hands on your parts early enough, you at least won’t be forced to fight or compete with other people for fuel supplies, which will likely be a primary target in such circumstances. While everyone is fighting over the gas stations, you can keep your distance and concentrate on staying safe. An additional perk, if you disable the artificial engine noises (if any depending on your vehicle) you’ll also be at least somewhat less likely to draw attention than the noise of an ICE.
Zombie apocalypse - A big subcategory which has some of both of the above categories. In a ZA, I’d go with EV, almost certainly some variant of a E-bike. Here, you have the low population of survivors (so if you need supplies, you can get them almost anywhere), but the concerns about being attacked are much higher. Any sort of vehicle noise is likely to bring down the hordes, so being able to ride your bike quietly is going to be a big advantage, but with the electric motor option being a big help for escape if you do draw notice. Sure you can’t transport nearly as much, but safety first when you’ve got a full post-life world to scavenge!
Plus, a E-bike has a huge advantage in any scenario (1 & 3) where there there is likely congestion on the roads and other transportation networks - you can thread between vehicles or on the shoulder more easily, or even cross rivers / mountains on a railroad crossing/bridge/shoulder that would otherwise be impassible in a larger vehicle.
Honestly though, this is all for the first few years tops of any sort of Apocalypse. Unless you have serious mechanical skills and get very lucky, equipment is going to fail from age, wear and weather, no matter what sort. In terms of medium to long term, it’s going to be shoe leather or horse. Fuel breaks down, and it’s very unlikely that anyone is going to be growing enough spare for biofuel options (for diesel or military grade multifuel). Given a few years of weather, transportation, accidents and the like the photovoltaic options are going to seriously degrade, if the batteries themselves don’t fail first.
It’s also a lot easier to stockpile bike parts. Doesn’t even have to be an E-bike. A few years of using the E-Bike as your primary transport will likely leave you in good enough shape to use regular bikes full time once the batteries or some other critical components are no longer functional. For most of us who aren’t currently in great shape, living long enough to get into shape is also a major factor, and the E-bike is a good way to get over that barrier.
Bikes, while being mechanically complicated, are still simple enough that with a good supply of parts, anyone with even moderate mechanical skills could keep one running for a long time.
I was reading a book series (called Slow Burn) where they actually did use EV’s for a while in the zombie apocalypse. It was actually one of those custom, hand-built ones with extended range and really fast. They had a base that was powered by solar and, IIRC a water turbine and some other stuff, so charging it was no issue. What they really liked about it was how quiet it was. Regular ICE vehicles basically would bring the zombie horde charging, but they didn’t ever hear the EV (they used night vision goggles to drive at night so they didn’t have the visual of the headlights). I don’t recall why they stopped using it…probably because the base was eventually overrun, but don’t recall…but for that, it was the best vehicle out there.
