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Oct 28, 2024

EV Charging Before, During, And After Hurricane Milton Hit Florida

The nation’s public EV charging station network is still in the early stages of development, and it’s already beginning to demonstrate resilience in the face of natural catastrophes. A data-based

The nation’s public EV charging station network is still in the early stages of development, and it’s already beginning to demonstrate resilience in the face of natural catastrophes. A data-based review by the charging analytics firm Stable confirms anecdotal evidence that EV drivers in Florida found it easy to charge up compared to other drivers who were forced to wait hours for scant supplies of gasoline. (Related story from CleanTechnica staff who went through the eye of Hurricane Milton: 5 Reasons Electric Cars Are Much Better In A Hurricane.)

Every catastrophe is different, and the impacts on fuel supply depend on the region and the diverse sources of energy available. One commonplace fact, though, is that storm warnings can spark long lines at local gas stations as drivers race to top off before the situation worsens. The same thing happens after storms when power has gone out for a wide geography and then stations gradually get power back one by one.

It’s not hard to imagine that similar bottlenecks could arise at public EV charging stations, especially in areas where EV drivers are concentrated. However, it’s also not hard to imagine they won’t. The vast majority of EV drivers prefer to use their own EV charging stations or normal electricity outlets at home, helping to ease the pre-storm strain on public stations.

Reporting for CleanTechnica before Milton made landfall on October 9, for example, longtime Florida resident Paul Fosse noted that public charging stations were readily available to EV drivers in the days preceding Milton, even as 2,000 or so gas stations were already out of fuel due to many drivers dashing out to fill up their tanks before the storm.

Drivers with the added convenience of home EV charging stations were in an even better position to charge up and take care of other storm prep without wasting time in a search of gas.

On October 11, two days after Milton made landfall, Fosse scouted public charging stations and spoke to other EV drivers in his area. He noted some stations were closed but it was still easy and convenient to find a place to charge up. As a consequence, EV drivers with home charging stations could still make use of public stations if they lost power at home.

Fosse also noted that some EV charging stations co-located with gas stations were open, even when gas pumps at the same site were still closed.

I spotted similar Milton-related anecdotes on social media and other online sources. If you have one to share, drop a note in the comment thread.

Meanwhile, the pre-Milton gas shortages dragged on for days after landfall, because the hurricane struck a keystone of the Florida gas import infrastructure, the Port of Tampa. Milton knocked out power to oil terminals at the port, along with other damage. Restoring the port to order was not an easy task.

“You need to get workers, terminal operators and truck drivers back, and the Coast Guard needs to inspect the channel for debris, and replace any navigational buoys,” an oil industry analyst told CBS MoneyWatch on October 14, five days after Milton made landfall.

Stable was founded by two researchers who worked together at MIT Media Lab. The firm culls data from thousands of public EV chargers around the US to help its customers plan and operate charging stations, optimized for profitability. Last week the company took a look at its data on EV charger outages after Milton and came up with some figures in support of the anecdotes.

“In the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, over 2000 gas stations were reported with limited supplies of fuel and long lines were reported at stations across the evacuation route,” Stable explained in an article posted on October 24. “We didn’t come across similar reports for charging stations, but at Stable we firmly believe that data beats anecdotes so we wanted to see what we would find when we pulled the numbers.”

“As it turns out, charging infrastructure held up pretty well in spite of widespread power outages,” they added.

Stable noted that most of the EV charging stations that lost power were concentrated in areas under shelter-in-place orders, making it less likely that drivers would run out to charge up even if the power was on. In fact, the data indicate that most drivers charged up ahead of the storm.

“DC fast charging utilization increased in the days before the hurricane, reaching 43% above average on Oct. 7. It plummeted to under 40% of normal on Oct. 9 and 10 as Floridians sheltered in place, but rebounded again immediately after the hurricane, reaching 92% of normal usage on Oct. 11 despite lingering power outages,” Stable reported.

Charging stations also recovered power in a reasonable mount of time. By October 11, just two days after Milton made landfall, more than 85% of EV chargers in Florida were in service. Outside of Hillsborough County, only 8% of EV chargers were still offline by October 12, Stable also reported.

“Even within Hillsborough, which saw the worst impacts from the storm, just 29% remained offline by October 12th and 90% were back online by October 15th, less than a week after landfall,” Stable added.

Yes, what about them? Similar to Fosse’s experience, Stable found that charger outages did not lead to significantly longer lines at the remaining chargers in service.

“Some of the counties along evacuation routes, especially Alachua and Duval counties in the northeast saw periods of higher utilization but no counties saw any period with >60% utilization for more than 3 hours of any day,” Stable noted.

That’s on average, but Stable also notes that drivers who encountered a full EV charging station could usually find space at another one nearby.

“Sometimes anecdotes are not the same as reality, but in this case charging infrastructure was resilient with fewer waits and a quicker return to normality as power was restored across the state,” the company concluded.

Milton is just one storm, but the data and the anecdotes show that EVs can perform as well as, or better than, conventional cars in a natural disaster. The experience of Milton also demonstrates that both home charging and public charging are critically important.

In the home charging space, one key problem to be resolved is the lack of charging stations for residents of multi-family dwellings. As solutions begin to emerge (and they are), more of these households will be able to use EV charging stations at home, helping to relieve the strain on public stations.

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Photo: EV charging data and anecdotal evidence both indicate that charging up an EV was easier than filling up a gas tank in Florida before and after Hurricane Milton made landfall (courtesy of NOAA).

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