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Comment by jklowden | Hacker News Reader

Why does the prepper assume there will be electricity to charge his car?

In case of living somewhere sunny, because he has solar installed?

If you are using solar why need the cybertruck at all?

Because when you produce more energy than you need, you need to store it somewhere and if the cost is roughly equivalent for that place to be mobile vs a static construction, choosing the mobile one is superior.

But the cost isn't equivalent at all???

Is this thread being astroturfed? This defence for the Cybertruck ITT is one of the least rational threads I've seen on HN in the past few years and if the CT was actually valuable tech it wouldn't be one of the worst selling vehicles of all time.

Are you maybe a bit overreacting? The question of emergency power is a rational one and no one here said they thinj a cybertruck is awesome because of it. Just that this is a selling point.

I am certainly overreacting. I was just dumbfounded by the question I was responding too. If the concern is emergency power there are so many better alternatives than a cybertruck. If the concern is storing an abundance of solar power there are much better alternatives than a cybertruck. I don't want to come onto HN and be marketed products; I come to HN for tech news and to see cool software that people build, not to be marketed a cybertruck.

> The question of emergency power is a rational one

And the additional value of Cybertruck in this question is about $1000 - $1500. $1k of additional value for $60k purchase is still a selling point, but marginally small selling point.

Standard grid-tie systems shut themselves off during a grid outage due to anti-islanding safety requirements.

If you want your solar panels to be operational during an outage, the typical install for this is a system that already includes batteries.

There are specialized options that exist with islanding features, but if you didn't install your solar system specifically for this you probably don't have it.

There are a whole bunch of "Prepping" scenarios to prepare for.

Because the "prepper" never had to deal with an actual disaster.

You can stockpile diesel for a generator (unlike electrons). That's what actual prepping looks like.

Take it from a Ukrainian.

Diesel just lengthens the storage time. You still have to go somewhere to get it when your onsite tank runs dry. For the electric side you could also have a bunch of solar panels. Lots of choices.

And if the needle is so far towards apocalypse, then the horse beats your diesel. Repairs itself, refuels itself, and replaces itself.

The ultimate preppers just become Amish.

If it works it's not stupid. Or something.

> replaces itself At least two horses then.

Diesel can't be stored forever. Maybe a few years with stabilizer. So you need to remember to rotate it out (and have some use for the fuel you're rotating out).

Much easier to just buy some solar panels to recharge the electric truck.

A prepper will already be rotating out food and water anyway. Solar is still a good idea, but so is having fuel powered generators. Might not be too much sunshine in situations like a nuclear winter or geoengineering gone wrong.

>Diesel can't be stored forever. Maybe a few years with stabilizer. So you need to remember to rotate it out (and have some use for the fuel you're rotating out). Much easier to just buy some solar panels to recharge the electric truck.

Much easier to use diesel in your diesel-powered vehicle.

And then you have much, much energy in your stockpile.

That's fun till you run out. The sun isn't going to replace your daily use.

There was a great write up by a Bosnian survivor about prepping vs reality and the top concerns were fuel, cooking oil, and paper goods. Water didn’t even make the list.

Sure, in Bosnia where it rains regularly. In drier climates, different story.

IIRC her point was that there's non-potable water you don't normally consider that can be made potable.

The supercharger stations will obviously keep working during the apocalypse.

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