The argument for Electric Apocalypse Survival BUGOUT Vehicles – Electric bug-out vehicles are the best choice for surviving the zombie apocalypse. Before the zombie apocalypse happens you should convert your bug out vehicle to electric or you’re wasting money and time and you’re endangering your chances of survival. When a SHTF survival scenario does happen where are you going to get enough fuel to power your bug out vehicle and travel anywhere reliably without putting yourself or your group in danger Think about it. Finding fuel will become a survival issue in and of itself. Without fuel your bug out vehicle is useless. Electric vehicles can be powered by the sun. There is limitless energy coming from the sun to power your electric bug-out-vehicle.
Image Credit: MO AOUN DESIGN
Image Credit: Enola Gaye
UPDATE: I just saw this, but Canadian Prepper came out with a great review of the CyberTruck as an apocalypse survival vehicle.
There are a lot of electric vehicles out there but the Tesla CyberTruck is the best one, and the stainless steel body construction is even bulletproof against a 9mm!
Elon Musk’s has released the Tesla CyberTruck. A powerful electric vehicle. The Tesla CyberTruck has an awesome 500 Mile Range, AWD, 14,000 Pound Towing Capacity, 100 Cubic Feet Cargo Bed, Carries 6 Passengers, Built-In Solar Panels Adds Additional 15-40 Miles of Range Per Day, (that doesn’t sound like much but try walking 15-40 miles in a day carrying all your survival gear. Optional Electric ATV included.
Tesla CyberTruck Specs –
- 500 Mile Range
- AWD
- 14,000 Pound Towing Capacity
- 100 Cubic Feet Cargo Bed
- Carries 6 Passengers
- Built-In Solar Panels Adds Additional 15-40 Miles of Range Per Day
- Optional Electric ATV included
- Plus Autopilot
Think about fuel like this. Fuel is energy; that’s all it is.
It’s just in a different form. Electricity is no different! Your battery is your fuel tank and the sun is your fuel pump!
FOSSIL FUEL IS FINITE: Gas, Diesel, Ethanol, Veggie Oil, Rocket Fuel
YOU WILL RUN OUT OF FOSSIL FUEL DURING THE APOCALYPSE!
Gasoline and diesel fuel is limited. It’s finite. If the government and manufacturing system isn’t restored in a short time you better have a good fuel source. Fuel will only last about a year, maybe in the right conditions. A few months at best in hot humid climates. When the apocalypse happens fuel production will collapse along with society.
Make your bugout vehicle electric
They’re quiet, you can recharge anywhere at anytime, and you don’t have to scavenge for fuel. Drawbacks of electric is knowledge and complexity, but any electrician or someone with basic knowledge of electricity can work on and build an electric vehicle. An easily remedied fear is range anxiety or losing charge. Because let’s face it, running out of juice and having your battery go dead while being chased by a horde of zombies is a legitimate fear. But if you understand how your cellphone tablet or laptop works and how easily they charge then you already have an understanding of how the battery works in an electric vehicle. The only difference is size. In fact, your laptop computer and cellphone is much more complex than a simple electric vehicle with electric motor charge controller and battery pack.
“Solar power is no different!
Your battery is your fuel tank and the sun is your fuel pump!”
A simple solar array and lithium battery pack (even lead acid battery pack) and electric motor can be installed in any vehicle.
SELF CHARGING – MOBILE CHARGING
Use flexible solar panels and/or a roll up solar array and your electric vehicle becomes self charging. You can also use small 500WATT wind turbines to charge your battery pack with. It won’t fully charge your battery more than capacity while driving but it will give you enough energy to extend your total range. And while sitting still if the wind is blowing it will charge your battery pack.
If you can afford it, have dual battery packs. At the very least a smaller “reserve” pack you keep 100% charged can save you in an emergency.
Recharging is mobile since the solar panels are mounted to the vehicle, and you can carry with you a flexible rollout solar array. Yes they exist. Yes they work very well.
CyberTruck Self Charging Portable Flexible Roll-Out Solar Panel Array
3KW FLEXIBLE ROLL-OUT SOLAR PANEL ARRAY CHARGING ABILITY
NOTE: I’m going to have to run the numbers on the 3KW solar system to see how much range this would add to the CyberTruck because we don’t know the capacity of the battery pack, just the current range is 500 miles per charge. The question is how long it will take to charge. For example a 240V charging system will fully charge the vehicle’s battery pack in 6-10 hours. How much range will a 3KW system add? I’ll post an update when I have those numbers. Regardless, you won’t be traveling much during the apocalypse anyway, but having an electric vehicle gives you the option to stay mobile if you want.
A larger solar array coupled with wind turbine is more than enough to charge in about 6-8 hours. And because there are two battery packs, one main pack and one reserve pack with about 25% to 50% of the capacity of the main pack, this ensures you have power when you need it.
RESERVE PACK – CUSTOM! – Always keep a backup battery pack for emergencies 100% charged
Having a reserve battery pack is just like having two tanks on a gas or diesel vehicle. You always have a backup in case of emergency. While you use you main you reserve is always at 100% charge.
RANGE
Range for electric vehicles used to be slightly less than traditional gas powered vehicles. But now with advances in technology range has increased to compete with and even in some cases surpasses gas and diesel powered vehicles.
What smaller electric vehicles lack in range they more than makes up for it with their ability to recharge from anywhere.
Average range is about 150-200 miles for electric vehicles
At first glance that doesn’t seem like much, but when you realize that during the apocalypse you most likely won’t be traveling much unless you absolutely need to, then 100-150 miles of range is more than enough to escape any threat. When was the last time you drove 200 miles a day? It’s not common. It won’t be common to travel more than 10-20 miles in a day during the apocalypse unless you are running from a threat or perhaps relocating your camp to a new survival location.
50 MILES PER DAY IS THE MAX ANYONE WOULD REALISTICALLY DRIVE ANYWHERE!
AVERAGE TRAVEL DISTANCE IN AMERICA: The average distance anyone travels during any given day varies greatly depending on where in the USA (any country really) someone lives. If you live in the country or suburbs and work in the city, you can travel 50 miles a day. The average out of about 220 million drivers, is about 16 miles per day according to ABC. SOURCE: How far do American’s travel to work on average?
But for sake of argument, let’s DOUBLE THAT so the naysayers and electric vehicle haters can shut up for once.
100 MILES!
The maximum is really about 100 miles. Which is easily within the range of 90% of electric vehicles that exist. Not to mention the fact that if you’re living in the Zombie Apocalypse, there’s no reason to be driving anywhere unless you decide you want to be mobile, which is not very smart because of the likelihood of running into a dangerous situation. Security wise, it’s wise to stay put in one safe location. But, if you absolutely had to travel between locations, say for example, bugging-out to a safe zone, then an electric vehicle is your best bet.
TESLA
Tesla electric vehicles 200+ miles of range. Even smaller electric vehicles have ranges of 75-100 miles. The base model CyberTruck has a range of 250 miles, the tri-motor version has a larger battery pack and a massive range of 500 miles.
Also, the built in solar panel on the CyberTruck ADDS an additional 15-40 miles of range according to Elon Musk.
POWER!
The sheer pulling power (torque) of electric motors is unmatched by comparatively sized gasoline engines. The massive torque of electric motors is superior to ICE engines. Hands down, electric vehicles are better.
The CyberTruck has a massive 14,000 pound towing capacity!
STEALTH! Electric Vehicles Are QUIET!
Stealth will save your life! During the zombie apocalypse sound will attract zombies and other bad guys. Loud noise such as engines running can be heard from quite a distance (especially when the normal sounds of a bustling city and in rural areas aren’t being traveled much; things get quieter. Any sound will draw attention to you and your group and if you’re traveling with your family which is likely, just making more noise endangers you more and increases your odds of a confrontation with raiders and bad people looking to take what you have. If you have a loud vehicle you’re more likely to attract unwanted attention.
Security!
Electric vehicles are very quiet compared to large gas and diesel powered vehicles! An electric vehicle is stealthy and could save your life by not only being quiet, but while traveling slowly with the windows down you can listen for danger more easily while patrolling the perimeter of your compound or while scavenging for supplies.
Which brings us back to the limitations of gasoline and diesel fuels. These fuel sources are finite and within a few months most of it will be gone. What will you do then? Your bugout vehicle will be nothing more than a giant paperweight without fuel.
RISK VS SECURITY
I wouldn’t go with gas or diesel if I have a choice because it’s very loud. It would attract unwanted attention and that means danger. Besides electric has comparable if not more torque than gas or Diesel engines of comparable weight and size. The idea is to be stealthy and 100% self sufficient. With fuel like gas or diesel you have to expose yourself while scavenging for more fuel when (not if) you run out of fuel. This leaves you separated from your family. Unless you take them with you while scavenging for fuel and that’s even more dangerous.
Which means when you run out of fuel you’re going to have to leave your family in a safe place while you scavenge for fuel. This is an unnecessary risk. With electric you don’t have to do that.
You can recharge from anywhere at anytime because you carry the charger with you.
RESERVE EMERGENCY POWER!
An electric vehicle with two battery packs, one main battery pack and smaller reserve pack can be charged with solar and wind power ANYWHERE at ANYTIME as long as the sun is shining and wind is blowing. If the sun isn’t shining the wind is usually blowing. That’s how that works. There’s also the ability to charge your battery with kinetic energy with regenerative braking and other kinetic energy sources.
Electric vehicles make the most sense for survival during the zombie apocalypse. Gas or diesel seems like the best choice, but those fuels are finite. After all the fuel is gone (which is months up to 1 year) your vehicle is useless. It’s nothing more than a giant paperweight.
Electric vehicles have the range, the ability to charge anywhere at anytime, is self charging if you have a large roll-out solar array, and you can carry more, have more torque and pulling power, and it’s quiet so you don’t draw attention.
Make your bug out vehicle electric!
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AUTHOR’S NOTE: YES! Electric vehicles are superior to fossil fuel vehicles. Period. Especially in a grid down apocalypse scenario. Gas and diesel will only last a year or so after the apocalypse starts. So unless you know how to refine and make gasoline (no ethanol is NOT going to be a viable option because you need to grow lots of starchy veggies to make it and during the apocalypse it’s STUPID to grow food and not eat it!) Electric is the future whether you agree with it or not. That’s just the way it is. You can try to hang onto the gas/diesel powered vehicles like the old timers tried to hold onto the horse and buggy, but modern technology outperforms it by a wide margin. We’re in that same kind of paradigm shift again. From gas/diesel powered to electric powered vehicles. History shows us that the superior technology will win. Electric vehicles are superior in every way. Period. End of subject.
P.S. DON’T drop comments about EMPs and older vehicles being EMP proof. The likelihood of an EMP attack is almost ZERO! Either from a solar storm or a nuke it won’t matter. You’ll have other things to worry about. EMP is a non-starter. It’s the BOOGEYMAN! BOO! EMP gonna getcha! LOL HAHAHAHAHAHA!
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NO EMP IS NOT A PROBLEM! Read this article
