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Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

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Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#31
post #6

How do electric vechicles hold up in something like this?

Not well, the heater is a major drain. If you stop the heater, the batteries get cold and perform significantly worse.

A heat pump system (such as in a Tesla Model Y or a Kia Niro) is significantly more efficient than a plain electric heater, though I haven't seen any hard numbers for cars with that equipment in winter weather.

Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#32

The ineptitude of the state governments in DC/VA/MD is amazing to me. Snow happens in these places?

I used to live in VA and how incredibly incompetent VDOT is baffles me. There's basically no public transport in the state, and the roads are still horrible. Where does the money go? They're building new lanes on the highways like SR66, but they're privately-funded hotlanes (toll lanes), not regular lanes.

I live in Seattle now, public transport is infinitely better, and the roads are better (though they still kinda suck). Baffles the mind.

Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#33

The ineptitude of the state governments in DC/VA/MD is amazing to me. Snow happens in these places?

Snow actually didn't use to happen in those places. Not in this way. That's why the word "change" is in "climate change".

DC, btw, is not a state, and has no "state government".

Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#34
post #6

How do electric vechicles hold up in something like this?

A stranded ICE vehicle will exhaust its gas tank in 8 hours, max. You can turn it on an off to stretch it out but I wonder if you'll just burn more gas that way. Google (and Quora) suggests that a Tesla will last 36-72 hours, "or less" if it's very cold. I think EVs win in this case, assuming a full tank versus a full charge.

Regardless if you're in a place where this could happen you should have a box of chemical handwarmers, a heavy blanket, food, water, and other stuff in a box for emergencies.

Edit: looks like I'm wrong, much better answers below!

Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#36
post #30
post #27

Interesting to consider that the oil industry may have made a mistake by reframing “global warming” as “climate change”. Harder for people to see events like this as part of “global warning” while it is more understandable as a consequence of “climate change”

It wasn't "the oil industry", but climate activists who, during a period when the earth wasn't warming starting around 1998, decided to reframe it as "climate change" in order to maintain the sense of crisis.

And it scientifically makes sense to call it this.

While the planet overall is warming, the extra energy in the system can actually make colder in some places.

For example, by enabling stronger storm systems to push arctic air farther south than previously.

Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#37
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People are also stuck on Amtrak in VA https://www.upmatters.com/news/national/snow-stalls-amtrak-i...

That happens even without snow. I've been stuck on Amtrak trains because there was some object on the track (crashed vehicles) and the train just sat there for hours and they refuse to open the doors even though were were in the center of Oakland and could have happily just walked out. Amtrak is not a great example of how trains should work.

I don't think any train operators are immune to the issues caused by track obstructions. Nor are car drivers immune to obstructions on I95.

Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there are no alternative roads to take if this one road closes. US Route 1 basically parallels I-95 in most of VA. I was once detoured on it after a military HAZMAT incident. It’s slow going, but it works.

Route 1 seems like a local-road to me with lots of traffic lights though. I-95 works really well as long as its clear. But as soon as an emergency happens, the spillover traffic is too massive for Route 1 to ever hope to handle. An interstate-highway can't rely upon a traffic-light laden local road to handle the traffic from a 4-lane interstate. EDIT: In the case of the 2017 eclipse, the traffic was so heavy that tru…

It looks that way on Google maps maybe, but as someone who grew up in Richmond it's a route nearly all Virginians take up to DC if there is any traffic on I95 and is a well known alternative route.

Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#39
post #30
post #27

Interesting to consider that the oil industry may have made a mistake by reframing “global warming” as “climate change”. Harder for people to see events like this as part of “global warning” while it is more understandable as a consequence of “climate change”

It wasn't "the oil industry", but climate activists who, during a period when the earth wasn't warming starting around 1998, decided to reframe it as "climate change" in order to maintain the sense of crisis.

Err, no, though I wasn’t completely accurate either, as Luntz came up with it after he’d stopped being a lobbyist for a while in order to join the Bush White House: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Luntz

There are various articles and interviews with him on this topic. Layoff has an excellent discussion of the topic too.

Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#40
post #30
post #27

Interesting to consider that the oil industry may have made a mistake by reframing “global warming” as “climate change”. Harder for people to see events like this as part of “global warning” while it is more understandable as a consequence of “climate change”

It wasn't "the oil industry", but climate activists who, during a period when the earth wasn't warming starting around 1998, decided to reframe it as "climate change" in order to maintain the sense of crisis.

It's not that global warming isn't happening, it's that the effects aren't just a blanket 'warming.' Increased warming in one area can affect weather patterns that result in extreme weather (or even cooling!) in another. Climate change is a more understandable term for the layperson.
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