Tesla Alerts Owners To Fully Charge Ahead Of Massive California Power Shutoff

Tesla has been sending in-car messages to the owners of its electric vehicles in California’s areas affected by a planned mass power shutoff, recommending drivers to charge their EVs to 100 percent, Electrek reports, citing the in-car messages drivers have received.

Owners of Teslas, which are very popular in the Bay Area, do not typically charge their vehicles to 100 percent every day to improve the battery pack longevity.

“We recommend charging your Tesla to 100% today to ensure your drive remains uninterrupted,” the EV maker says in the in-car messages it has been sending in California, after the largest utility in northern California announced earlier this week that it would be implementing a planned mass shutoff in many areas to prevent the risk of wildfires.

Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) has started a planned power shutoff on an unprecedented scale in Northern California to reduce the risk of wildfires amid dry and windy weather, the San Francisco-based utility said on Wednesday.  

The deadliest fire in California’s history, the Camp Fire in November 2018, was caused by PG&E’s transmission lines, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) determined in May this year.

PG&E, which filed for bankruptcy at the beginning of this year burdened by the devastating 2018 wildfires in California, began on Wednesday morning the first phase of its three-phase Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) in large parts of its service areas in northern and central California.

The first phase, which began at 12 a.m. on Wednesday, impacts around 530,000 customers, the second phase affects power supply to another 234,000 customers from around 12 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon, and a third phase is also being considered for the southernmost portions of PG&E’s service area.  

Also on Wednesday, Elon Musk tweeted that “All Tesla Supercharger stations in regions affected by California power outages will have Tesla Powerpacks within next few weeks. Just waiting on permits.”

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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