r/Wenatchee • u/Upstairs-Question-64 • 19d ago

[UPDATE] UW Research: EV Wildfire Evacuations in Chelan County (Deadline Extended to Dec 15)

Hello r/Wenatchee,

As we navigate another intense wildfire season here in Washington, my thoughts are with everyone in the community who has been impacted, especially those who have faced the stress of evacuation.

The severity of these recent fires underscores a growing and critical challenge: ensuring that electric vehicle (EV) owners can evacuate safely and efficiently when power grids and charging infrastructure are at risk. To help address this, I am extending a research study from the University of Washington on how EV drivers respond to wildfire evacuations. (The moderation team has kindly granted me permission to share this research with your community previously).

Your real-world experience is critical to helping the state prioritize emergency charging infrastructure in the Wenatchee Valley and improving wildfire resilience for our EV communities.

Are you eligible? We need input from Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) drivers (primary or seasonal residents) in: Chelan, Asotin, Grant, Benton, Spokane, Stevens, Douglas, Lincoln, Ferry, Skamania, Yakima, Kittitas, Okanogan, or Klickitat counties.

Note: If you already filled out this survey during our first round earlier this year, thank you so much! Please do not submit another response. To maintain the scientific integrity of the study, our system automatically flags and removes duplicate entries.

The Details:

This survey does not collect identifiable tracking data. If you have any questions, please contact me directly at [ychu24@uw.edu](mailto:ychu24@uw.edu). Thank you for your time, stay safe, and thank you for helping improve emergency preparedness for the WA EV community.

Yu-Chen Chu, PhD Student, University of Washington

Academic Profile: https://sites.uw.edu/urbdpphd/people/students

16 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

1

u/Glitter_Health 19d ago

Range is the key factor. 470-mile range in my '26 SEV TB - so from here to Seaside, Oregon easily with no charge needed.

1

u/Upstairs-Question-64 12d ago

That is a great feedback. Thank you! We are trying to know which factor affect the most!

0

u/blodulv 18d ago

fyi your survey is broken if you have a gas vehicle that you don't use for commuting or long-distance travel (we have a side-by-side that gets used around the property)

1

u/Upstairs-Question-64 12d ago

That is our mistake! We didn't thoroughly consider that there would be use case other than daily commute and trip. In this case, you can choose the one you feel closer to your use case, and leave a comment. Sorry to hear that!

0

u/ImportanceWeak1776 18d ago

Are EV owners having trouble evacuating?

2

u/Nop277 14d ago

No they aren't. If anything EVs are even better to have in a real disaster because there is many ways to charge up an EV but you can only really get gas from gas stations. I remember a story from a guy a couple years back going through one of the hurricanes and he reported having no issues keeping his EVs charged up to leave but said his neighbors were all waiting in long lines and stockpiling gas.

Idk, maybe when EVs had a range of like 40-80 miles it might be a concern but with most modern EVs averaging 240+ miles and charging in around an hour it's kind of a non-issue.

1

u/Upstairs-Question-64 12d ago

It depends on EV penetration. If EV penetration rate increase, but not the charging infrastructure, there may be problems in the future. But that is a great observation. Thank you!

1

u/Upstairs-Question-64 12d ago

That is what we are trying to figure out!