I have one important thought and comment that needs to be
made in light of recent news of major disasters that befall us in
California and across the country; that is, having all of our
emergency response “eggs in one
basket” namely electric light, medium, and heavy
duty electric vehicles needed for emergency response.
As a Company that has always been there through earthquakes,
major snow events, huge deadly fires, and floods AND PANDEMICES, we
have been participating in emergency response preparedness for
decades.
I know that electrification of emergency and other response
vehicles will make any disaster recovery and response much worse in
life and death situations.
In most, if not all of the disasters experienced in our
State, one of the first effects experienced is that the electrical
grid goes down. Hence
the requirement for back-up power for hospitals, police facilities,
California’s Office of Emergency Services, and media outlets
to name but a few, that also includes OUR solar powered offices
with a standby 250KW generator that is regularly utilized often in
area outages to keep our systems and equipment coordination
running.
Just consider last month when the Governor was telling those
with electric vehicles to not charge them due to overwhelming grid
stresses. This was
not even coupled with another disaster, like a fire or
earthquake…. or any other disaster where major response is
required.
With electric vehicles you
cannot “get there from here!” EVEN in that grid demand problem we
experienced, our companies were involved working to keep power
plants up with what they needed to generate power at record
levels. We CAN
deliver fuels and products needed without electricity as all our
vehicles are independently powered and carry fuel that is turned
into power without electricity or using standby power. We cannot use electric
vehicle to fill those roles.
THE ASK:
Please exempt ALL vehicles that work to
keep our State operating during crises. That would include: Fire Trucks, Ambulances, Police vehicles,
utility vehicles, the many State, County, and local agencies
vehicles that respond when disaster strikes.
Exempt all the vehicles that
deliver food prepared and grocery and fuel as these vehicles
provide fuel for evacuations, and response and food to keep people
alive right now. The
list would be large but the need during these events would be
immediate and demand all resources available to preserve human life
and health.
I appreciate your thoughts to make commute and local errand
cars less polluting but using a broad brush to shut down emergency
response vehicles, food and fuel deliveries and support vehicles for
example, lacks adequate consideration of the redundancy needs
required for large crises.
Remember, in all large emergencies, it is ALLWAYS,
“All Hands on Deck.”