I have lived in SoCal for 22 adult years. I’ve lost power maybe 3 times, and for at most 6 hours. A Tesla should have enough range for a few days commute w/out recharge.
I don’t think power reliability should be a concern... except for when the big one strikes. But in that case all the freeway overpasses will collapse, so an ICE car won’t help you anyway.
Sure but PG&E wasn't doing these outages 10 years ago as much as it is now.
In the Bay Area, it's regularly an occurrence where people in the Santa Cruz Mountains will not have power for 2 days to a week. With little to no notice too.
You come home with a low battery to refill it at home, you might not be able to get very far. Hopefully you just drive with 50+ miles ready all the time.
Later this week I'd expect multiple areas in the Santa Cruz Mountains to lose power (from the coming storm). It's very common, happens multiple times per year (fires, winds, rains can all cause it). Sometimes it's just a day, sometimes many more.
Unless I someday get to live somewhere with a very substantial solar system, I won't ever be with only an electric car. Grid-delivered electricity isn't reliable enough to bet on.
And consider storms like hurricanes Irma and Maria which left many areas of the Caribbean without power for multiple months.
I don't agree with OP in that I think power reliability is a concern with EVs. However PGE does not handle power for SoCal. In SoCal you have San Diego Gas and Electric(SDGE), LA Dept. of Water and Power, Southern California Edison, and maybe others. PG&E, along with its numerous problems, is NorCal.
I lived in SoCal for 24 years and the only major(>3 hours) power outage I remember was https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Southwest_blackout and IIRC it lasted less than a day. That said, a major seismic event could occur anywhere in CA and cause outages for much longer than that.
PG&E's safety outages are a fact of life of living in California
Is this due to natural disaster risk or lack of maintenance for infrastructure? I've lived in Austria & Germany for 15 years now and only once experienced a power outage (I think it lasted about 15 minutes).
It’s because their electric grid equipment has been the source of ignition for wild fires in the past and the state fined them for causing fires which in part drove them into bankruptcy last year. So to avoid fines they cut off power whenever conditions make fires likely. Their poor financial management over decades is also likely responsible for poor equipment maintenance which increases likelihood of equipment causing fires.
A fact of life in the past couple of years only. It's a(n over)reaction to their legal woes, and I suspect it will snap back as regulators crack down on these actions.
I don’t think power reliability should be a concern... except for when the big one strikes. But in that case all the freeway overpasses will collapse, so an ICE car won’t help you anyway.