There are many advantages that electric vehicles have over gas-powered cars, but also some disadvantages and ‘grey points’ that people are unsure about. For example, one of the things that people are uncertain about is being able to charge an electric vehicle during a storm and if it is possible.
It is possible to charge your electric vehicle in the rain or any other form of bad weather like snow and sandstorms, etc. It is safe because the cord that electric cars use charge is insulated and therefore can withstand rain without any car-threatening issues occurring.
However, there are still things you need to consider when charging your electric vehicle in the rain. Is it practical to charge your electric car in the rain, or if you should unplug your electric vehicle when a thunderstorm starts?
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Can You Charge An Electric Vehicle During A Thunderstorm?
Everyone has grown up learning about the dangers of mixing electricity and water. If electricity and water mix, it can cause massive problems for your electrical systems within your house, like tripping the electricity or even causing damage to the wiring. There is a reason you are likely not to find a plug point in a bathroom or even a light switch, for that matter.
Electric vehicles are (obviously) powered by electricity. The problem is that sometimes lightning strikes your house or a building and can cause some appliances (most commonly, you hear of someone’s Wi-Fi router getting struck by lightning), and it can damage said appliances and put them out of use, beyond repair.
So, what happens if you are charging your electric vehicle and lightning comes into contact with the part of the building’s electrical system that is powering your electric vehicle’s charger? Luckily, the people that have built and engineered electric vehicles have thought quite far ahead. The majority, if not all of the electric vehicle brands, have made the chargers and the cords shock-resistant.
Shock resistance means that when lightning strikes a plug point, charger, or anything that has electricity running through it, the lightning will not damage the appliance due to the unexpectedly large amount of electricity running through it. So therefore, it is possible to charge your electric vehicle during a thunderstorm safely and if there is lightning, just make sure to double-check that the charger and charging cords are shock-resistant first.
Should You Unplug Your Electric Vehicle During A Thunderstorm?
Like most gas-powered cars, if an electric vehicle is struck directly by lightning during a storm, that car is likely to be safe, and so are the driver and passengers within the vehicle. But that does not mean that the vehicle and charging devices are secure from being struck by lightning while charging the electric car.
As said above, electric vehicle charging points and charging cords usually come with shock-resistant surge protectors. This precaution means that if the electrical system that is powering the charger gets struck by lightning, it should be protected if the surge protector is strong enough (which it should be).
Despite that, many people prefer to be safe rather than sorry. Unless the electric vehicle’s charger gets directly struck by lightning (which is highly unlikely), you should be generally safe charging your electric car during a thunderstorm. But most people prefers to unplug their electric vehicle and the charger during a storm.
No appliance or electrical device is 100% safe against a direct lightning strike, no matter how high-end the surge protector it contains. Although it is unlikely that the lightning will damage your charger beyond repair, it is safer to unplug your electric vehicle during a thunderstorm if you are not in a hurry to be anywhere.
Electric vehicles (like gas-powered vehicles) act as cages and direct the electricity from lightning straight to the ground. The electric vehicles get built with voltage monitors that recognize a high surge in voltage and immediately protect the batteries from being overcharged. (So, if you thought that the lightning would charge your batteries for you, unfortunately, it will not.) If the charger gets struck by lightning during a storm and the electric vehicle is plugged in, the electric vehicle will not be damaged.
Is It Safe To Charge Your EV While its Raining?
One of the biggest misconceptions that come with electric vehicles is that because they are electric, they can’t come into contact with water due to it being electrically powered. This idea is incorrect, whether you are driving in the rain or charging the vehicle.
Gas-powered vehicles are manufactured to prevent rain from getting into any parts of the car that can negatively affect the performance or damage the vehicle, so why would an electric vehicle be built differently?
So, it is perfectly safe to drive an electric vehicle in the rain, but is it safe or even possible to charge an electric vehicle in the rain? First of all, the batteries in every electric vehicle get encased in protective boxes that prevent the car’s battery packs from coming into contact with any of the elements. These cases prevent water, air, and even any physical damage from affecting the batteries negatively.
The charging points and the charging cords were also designed to prevent weather damage. Many charging stations are outdoors, making them susceptible to coming into contact with harmful weather elements like rain and snow. As long you don’t get any water or snow into the actual charging port on your electric vehicle, it is perfectly safe for the charger and charging cords to come into contact with the elements and charge your card without issue.
Conclusion
Damage from the elements is one of the main worries that people have when thinking of buying electric vehicles, but the EV companies try their best to put those worries to bed. The engineers that produce electric vehicles have thought ahead. Just like gas-powered car companies, electric vehicle companies design their vehicles to protect the passengers and the vehicle as much as possible.
An electric vehicle can be safely driven and charged during rain because the charging point and chargers are waterproof. The charging points also come with surge protectors, meaning the charging points and the electric vehicle will likely be safe if lightning strikes, but it is always clever to err on the side of caution.