Not surprised in VT or NH

[andrew_j]

There was also spotty cell coverage since towers were engineered for a certain population. Is anyone in this thread going to go back to a copper landline because it might happen again?

Yep, my power outage last Th lasted 24 hrs and cell data was abysmal due to everyone on cell tower. Lots of complainers too of Xfinity storm backup Internet option(cell modem) which uses same Verizon tower.

T-Mobile internet locally turned useless too.

Thankfully 4 hours into outage Xfinity put a litttle Honda generator near pole with meter to power their equipment. I was using my lawn tractor to power a 150w inverter to run internet/wifi and charging my MacBook Pro to work from home.

That all being said growing up rotary phone worked during power outages .

 

[andrew_j]

People make incredible bad life decisions unable to think critically/analytically. Can't feel sorry for those who take along trip in an EV and get stuck. Lack of common sense teaches those with the same lack of common sense not to make the same mistake.
Oh... well, another life lesson for others to learn off their experiences.

Lesson #1
Dont take an EV to a major event if you are going to need to re-charge, take an ICE vehicle.
Lesson #2
Dont take an EV anyplace that you may get stuck in major traffic etc. during a storm or extreme weather, take an ICE vehicle.
Lesson #3
____________________________________ (example, dont trust that your teenager remembered to plug in the EV when he/she got home at 2AM and you need to get to work at 8AM) *LOL*

A friend did use EV(BMW) however stopped most way up before eclipse on the way to get fully charged to make it balance of ride up and back home. He stated charging was relatively easy as everyone was worried about getting there.

 

[y_p_w]

That article was a little short on details, such as how many stayed overnight, how many arrived just in time, etc. I would have thought that there would have been ample opportunity to charge overnight where practical or maybe the night before. There was likely a period of time before the eclipse where it would have been easier to find a charging station to top off.

When I’ve gone on a road trip in a Tesla, I was charging early and often for fear of long lines if I did it later.

 

[Vercingetorix]

Need to set up a separate category for stupid people. This really does not belong in the E.V. Forum. It truly belongs on the stupid forum.

 

[Astro_Guy]

Wasn’t that simple. The Vermont legislature voted in 2010 against renewing the certificate to operate under political pressure from anti-nuclear protesters. Entergy won the court case against that action in 2012. But cheap natural gas generation, at that time, lowered electric prices and made the plant less competitive. They shut down in 2014.

Entergy was facing continued legislative battles, as the legislature was already considering further actions against the nuclear plant, which they could not afford in a time of low prices.

It wasn’t a simple business decision, it was a business decision forced by an adversarial legislative climate, in a time of reduced revenue.

I recall having a cold one with the Mrs in Brattleboro back when they announced the plant closure. I commented on this to the young and clueless barista who said it wouldn't be a problem because they would just get the power from Quebec Hydro. Roll the clock forward to the next visit: virtually the entire tax base of Vernon, VT was wiped out. Almost the entire municipal staff had been laid off, including the police department. Who knows how much employee driven revenue dried up. The greens won this one at a terrible cost to the local community. Ironically nuclear power is one of the better options for reducing the use of fossil fuels. One has to wonder what the real agenda of these left wing nuts really is...

 

[Astro_Guy]

Seems like poor planning (given for people) as they were warned and lack of infrastructure in NH, VT, ME to support extraordinary peak times.

Still considering a used EV for commuting with free charging at work place.

https://www.wcvb.com/article/tesla-...harge-cars-after-total-solar-eclipse/60448157

As someone thoroughly involved in amateur astronomy I can tell you that my FaceBook feed was full of traffic jam photos from the Adirondacks, VT, NH and Maine. There may have been some lines at the gas stations as well, albeit not as long. As the saying goes, you can't fix stupid. Duck tape can muffle the sound if you have some handy.

 

[Torrid]

Absolutely. Maybe once or twice in my lifetime I had a problem getting gas. Sandy being the most recent, then decades ago when they had odd even fueling days for a little while, we managed. My bet is half the members on this board weren't even born then. EV charging problems seems to be pretty common this past winter for many EV owners. More so than me having problems getting gas in my lifetime. I'm pretty sure many members had similar experiences.

A lot of the charging problems with cold weather in particular are user error. That doesn't make it any easier of course, but there's more of a learning curve with an EV than a common practice that has been done fueling ICE vehicles since before we were born. Whether you write it off as "not for primetime" is for you to decide of course. I have been lucky I guess because I've never been in a scenario where I've had a problem charging or fueling, but I also don't live in any major area but I'm 45 minutes to an hour from two, so we don't have people on top of either other trying to do either in an emergency.

I'm just remote enough that there is not a Tesla Supercharger in my town to put things into perspective. There are some chargers though ran by Shell.

 

[Torrid]

People make incredible bad life decisions unable to think critically/analytically. Can't feel sorry for those who take along trip in an EV and get stuck. Lack of common sense teaches those with the same lack of common sense not to make the same mistake.
Oh... well, another life lesson for others to learn off their experiences.

Lesson #1
Dont take an EV to a major event if you are going to need to re-charge, take an ICE vehicle.
Lesson #2
Dont take an EV anyplace that you may get stuck in major traffic etc. during a storm or extreme weather, take an ICE vehicle.
Lesson #3
____________________________________ (example, dont trust that your teenager remembered to plug in the EV when he/she got home at 2AM and you need to get to work at 8AM) *LOL*

I don't agree with this as a blanket statement, but I will say some common sense needs to be used which I feel you acknowledged in the first part. I'd plan ahead to not have to fuel in these situations either. Why get stuck in the middle of a busy situation where you may need services that many others may be waiting for? Sure for fueling time the EV does exacerbate the problem, but ICE doesn't completely alleviate poor planning. For obvious reasons it may be a little easier to deal with the situation.

All this goes back to what I've said on this site multiple times. We're all intelligent enough people that care about the service, care, and use of our vehicles enough we're on a site dedicated to care and maintenance of our vehicles. None of us here are people who don't plan ahead for our given situation. It may be less convenient at times, but we're well aware of the possible hazards and would all act accordingly. You'd approach all these scenarios with a completely different answer if you loved EVs and preferred to drive them because you'd be well educated on how to make them work for your use if you wanted to. I don't buy for a second that it's too difficult for you to do, you only find it as an inconvenience and I can respect that. I don't believe your post respects that though when you get to the lessons you list. All you are doing is condemning it outside of any respect of principle. If all you mean is the poor planners should follow this, I can kind of understand this. That won't save them though. They'll still be the people who run out of fuel sitting on the side of the highway. It's a habitual problem regardless of the fuel source.

 

[John105]

People make incredible bad life decisions unable to think critically/analytically.

this made me think of the nerdwallet commercial, where the elderly man is asked by his 20 yo boss, “Who’s ready for their performance review?!!”

 

[supton]

Yep, my power outage last Th lasted 24 hrs and cell data was abysmal due to everyone on cell tower. Lots of complainers too of Xfinity storm backup Internet option(cell modem) which uses same Verizon tower.

T-Mobile internet locally turned useless too.

Thankfully 4 hours into outage Xfinity put a litttle Honda generator near pole with meter to power their equipment. I was using my lawn tractor to power a 150w inverter to run internet/wifi and charging my MacBook Pro to work from home.

That all being said growing up rotary phone worked during power outages .

Yeah, POTS was reliable. But wow do I like my fiber for WFH.

These days I might be willing to give up lights and heating in order to have the WiFi up and running...

 

[John105]

We had two chargers put in around 12 miles from me..after 1 year they removed them.

To me, they're like pay phones back in the day, that were not owned by the phone co. They are installed for profit, of course. But from memory, the non telephone co. pay phones were poorly maintained, and had usurious rates. Not to mention germs that were unknown to man at the time. One time I was mad at Verizon so I decided I'd call their 800# from a pay phone 10X/day for a month. They thought they were funny charging me a $5 late fee, my antics cost them $150. But the pay phone owners (non Verizon) were happy. I think I did end up with a staph infection, but it was still worth it

 

[Trav]

There was also spotty cell coverage since towers were engineered for a certain population. Is anyone in this thread going to go back to a copper landline because it might happen again?

I tried to get a copper landline back in but they don't do it anymore VOIP only. The problem with that is the sketchy electric grid goes down often and the first thing to go with it is the internet even though the generator is up and running, the emergency broadcast system is also out for the count (another stupid fiasco). As far as the cell phone is concerned I don't use it since 3g got taken down. I have a 5g iphone but there is not even 4g never mind 5g here, I go out to the western part of Mass and southern NH and also have nothing, the phone is a basically a brick unless I go to Worcester or Boston or other major city.

People have been dumbed down so much that they don't see mass adoption and mandating of EV is not feasible in many areas as non of the boxes have been checked needed to support them and it just doesnt come down to charging station availability.

 

[andrew_j]

I tried to get a copper landline back in but they don't do it anymore VOIP only. The problem with that is the sketchy electric grid goes down often and the first thing to go with it is the internet even though the generator is up and running, the emergency broadcast system is also out for the count (another stupid fiasco). As far as the cell phone is concerned I don't use it since 3g got taken down. I have a 5g iphone but there is not even 4g never mind 5g here, I go out to the western part of Mass and southern NH and also have nothing, the phone is a basically a brick unless I go to Worcester or Boston or other major city.

People have been dumbed down so much that they don't see mass adoption and mandating of EV is not feasible in many areas as non of the boxes have been checked needed to support them and it just doesnt come down to charging station availability.

Yes western MA is terrible for infrastructure. My brother in law town (Petersham) had DSL that barely worked/slow and Verizon said when it broke they would not fix.

It barely has cell service and the internet ended up being a self/community created utility company to lay fiber that cost $2000/home to install and required x homes to commit . It was easy sell when real estate agent told the old foggies fighting cable companies prior their real estate values would spike.

 

[John105]

Yes western MA is terrible for infrastructure. My brother in law town (Petersham) had DSL that barely worked/slow and Verizon said when it broke they would not fix.

It barely has cell service and the internet ended up being a self/community created utility company to lay fiber that cost $2000/home to install and required x homes to commit . It was easy sell when real estate agent told the old foggies fighting cable companies prior their real estate values would spike.

Not trying to be funny but say the area code numbering is grossly inefficient.

I see it as being like the YMCA when they swim test a kid--they add them into a google sheet. Well, the sheet just keeps getting larger and larger to the point where they can't even search it to see if a kid is on it anymore.

I would say the areas which by the late 90's could still dial 7 digits to make local phone calls, those will be the places where the infrastructure was left behind. Maybe that's too long ago to remember, then, the other way is to see that they're still using the orignal area code, that it does not have 3-6 overlays today....my .02

edit just looked up four examples, 607 and 413. 802 and 603.

 

[Trav]

Yes western MA is terrible for infrastructure. My brother in law town (Petersham) had DSL that barely worked/slow and Verizon said when it broke they would not fix.

It barely has cell service and the internet ended up being a self/community created utility company to lay fiber that cost $2000/home to install and required x homes to commit . It was easy sell when real estate agent told the old foggies fighting cable companies prior their real estate values would spike.

I have fiber gig internet at least but when the wires go down which is often it is also gone. The best part is when the stuff goes down they want you to call, with no copper landline, voip and no cell phone reception how do you do that, friggin smoke signals from my wigwam out back. These people are morons, any half witted lame brain would/should know you cant throw copper landlines and 3g out when zero infrastructure was in place to replace it in an emergency.

 

[supton]

I would say the areas which by the late 90's could still dial 7 digits to make local phone calls, those will be the places where the infrastructure was left behind. Maybe that's too long ago to remember, then, the other way is to see that they're still using the orignal area code, that it does not have 3-6 overlays today....my .02

edit just looked up four examples, 607 and 413. 802 and 603.

Yeah it still bugs me to dial 11 digits now, even for a local call.

When, as a kid, we moved Maine in the early 90’s, we had 4 digit dialing to call across town. So, I’ve had to put up with having to transition from 4 to 7 to 11 digits. When will the madness stop?

 

[demarpaint]

I have fiber gig internet at least but when the wires go down which is often it is also gone. The best part is when the stuff goes down they want you to call, with no copper landline, voip and no cell phone reception how do you do that, friggin smoke signals from my wigwam out back. These people are morons, any half witted lame brain would/should know you cant throw copper landlines and 3g out when zero infrastructure was in place to replace it in an emergency.

LOL but the half witted lame brains do it all the time, will continue to do so.

 

[andrew_j]

I have fiber gig internet at least but when the wires go down which is often it is also gone. The best part is when the stuff goes down they want you to call, with no copper landline, voip and no cell phone reception how do you do that, friggin smoke signals from my wigwam out back. These people are morons, any half witted lame brain would/should know you cant throw copper landlines and 3g out when zero infrastructure was in place to replace it in an emergency.

Copper and 3g is not profitable and slow/expensive to maintain so companies have zero interest in supporting it . So a challenge

 

[John105]

Yeah it still bugs me to dial 11 digits now, even for a local call.

When, as a kid, we moved Maine in the early 90’s, we had 4 digit dialing to call across town. So, I’ve had to put up with having to transition from 4 to 7 to 11 digits. When will the madness stop?

Well I lived in Albany in 1999, and moved to the Phila suburbs. It just so happened that the week I got there, “permissive” dialing was over. So I had to dial 610-xxx-xxxx to reach a next door neighbor. I really didn’t see the point.

Do you have to dial a 1, then 10 digits? Chicago area had to do that last I knew. At least in Bensenville…

Area codes are funny I have always had 215 and hopefully always will on the cell. To get the iPhone deal I got a new number and was assigned 445. What???!! Reminded me of Seinfeld when Elaine got 646 and a guy didn’t want to date her as a result. I learned that with Verizon, we can change our # daily free of charge. And, we can select and see the numbers available. So I briefly switched it to 312 and people would ask, are you from Chicago? Eventually, I got a 215 back. But I get voicemails and texts for some retired guy even 18 mos later…

 

[John105]

Copper and 3g is not profitable and slow/expensive to maintain so companies have zero interest in supporting it . So a challenge

Our old office had 38 pots lines. I was the unlucky person who had to work with verizon to cut them over to fiber. What a mess. It took maybe 25 visits and 1+ years. Waste of my time and painful to think about…I had to fix the techs x-conn he did at least 1/3 wrong. 2 didn’t even have service.