EV’s the best post shtf vehicle?

[DustyDog]

Having just bought my first EV, I’m just thinking, are these possibly the best shtf scenario vehicles? If petrol and diesel become almost impossible to get hold of, a moderate solar setup could keep an electric vehicle running, it may take a fair bit longer to charge up but there people already who charge their leccy cars up with a big boost if that from solar, depending on size of solar setup. What are your thoughts on this?

[Frnc]

I think you'd need a serious amount of solar power. But it must be doable. Do you have panels on your roof, and/or a decent sized garden?

Personally I rely on by bike, which needs nothing except my legs.

[Yorkshire Andy]

My mates got a battery unit which will work off grid...

Will take a while to charge but such is life....

Also in a smaller power cut many now have a 240v AC inverter to plug things into when parked up...

[DustyDog]

I’ve no solar but would be good to have, out of the three cars, only mine is leccy so not sure if the validity of getting solar just to charge my car up. Will see, it was more of a ‘is this a good idea’ thing.

[grenfell]

For a "while things are ok" it sounds like an idea. Sort of along the same lines of growing your own food to reduce how much you have to buy.
As a SHTF idea I'm less certain it makes sense. I wouldn't think even covering it in solar panels would provide enough power to fully charge the batteries if the car is being used as a bug out vehicle. But then fully charged that might not matter too much , even a modest 100 mile range should get you out of trouble and the car could hopefully be charged at the other end of the journey. Storing several cans of diesel would work for the same idea as long as you have a diesel vehicle obviously.
If there's no need to evacuate I've often wondered just where anyone would be planning to go. If petrol and diesel become impossible or near impossible a lot of the economy could pretty much close down and fuel shortages could easily affect electricity supply so the solar generation might very well be better used for household use. Like most things probably not a black or white answer but if the economics add up it could be worth doing...

[jennyjj01]

Having just bought my first EV, I’m just thinking, are these possibly the best shtf scenario vehicles? If petrol and diesel become almost impossible to get hold of, a moderate solar setup could keep an electric vehicle running, it may take a fair bit longer to charge up but there people already who charge their leccy cars up with a big boost if that from solar, depending on size of solar setup. What are your thoughts on this?

If Diesel leaves the marketplace, then the economy would be so mucked up that Mains electricity would equally become sparse and precious. Whatever power your solar could produce might have better uses than say, pootling to town where the shops are empty, or driving you to the forest.
This is where we do well to consider real SHTF situations in places like Sri Lanka, Ukraine, Cuba,. The SHTF vehicle of choice then reveals itself as being the one that uses least fuel. A tuc-tuc or motorbike or bike? Or just jump on the refugee bus.
It all depends which S hits the fan. I can foresee an executive order that all houses with solar panels must somehow pool or surrender their energy to community in some way. Or like Cuba, orders that cars must have all seats filled. Some sort of anti-hoarding and enforced sharing edicts could be expected if a government remained. If no government remained, I'd expect looters would be out adopting homes with solar panels.

Aren't some of these EVs reliant on having internet connectivity?

[jansman]

I do think that if local ( ish) transport was needed ,and indeed it will,then a bicycle would be far superior. Chuck in a trailer for it,and you are in business! So simple to maintain too.
Ten odd years ago I had several types of cycles and one was my off road fishing bike. I had a YAK trailer to go with it. Where I walked the dogs and fished down in the valley,I often came across Council tree surgeons cutting trees. A polite word and they would cut the narrower pieces to no longer than 3’ and I would fetch them with the trailer - nobody else could get in!

Kept me fit too!

[Frnc]

Alternative to a trailer for a bike is panniers. I was lucky that my bike had an eyelet just above the rear axle, as it is a mountain bike. I replaced the seat tube collar with one with eyelets. This enabled me to fit a rear rack. I also fitted a front rack which straps to the forks. My panniers total is 70 litres. I could also have a bag on top of each rack, and a rucksack. My bike has disc brakes, but I was advised to get the non-disc rear rack and it worked.

My shifter broke when the bike was new, so for a while I was worried about that, but someone on here posted instructions on how to keep going with a broken shifter/cable or broken derailleur. Basically you convert to a fixed gear, with the chain on a middle gear. My bike is a 1 x, so I should be able to figure it out.

[grenfell]

Location could play a part in this too. Realistically a bike will give about a 20 radius of travel from home. That's assuming a 20 mile ride out , time at wherever you're going to do what you went for and then the ride back in the space of a day. In the winter with shorter days and potentially bad weather , or carrying a heavy load that could be a smaller radius of course. Walking would be similar but with shorter distances. Both would be slower that a vehicle but we are talking some sort of economic crash here and we need to ask just where one would need to go barring an evacuation. If your needs can be met in that 20 mile radius do you really need to go further. There's also the grey man approach to consider too. If everyone else is staring at the ton of unusable metal on the drive seeing someone swanning about in a car is likely to cause resentment.

[DustyDog]

Aye all good points, I’m suspecting that if things do go belly up, there could be some kind of martial law where there’ll be no driving anywhere but for now I’m waiting for the next thing to happen that makes fuel prices go into orbit. We have one ev, one diesel and one petrol car in household, I may find I’m driving a lot more.