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Before Hurricane Florence passed, Tesla gave a boost to her electric cars by expanding the range of their batteries to help people evacuate.
Florence landed in North Carolina on Friday before being downgraded to a tropical storm.
As stated by NPR, Tesla can remotely operate the maximum capacity of its 75 kWh batteries in Model S and X vehicles, adding approximately 30 km of range.
In any natural disaster situation like this, our policy is to make the Superchargers unutilized to optimize evacuation routes for affected customers. Https://t.co/SOUlKv3UUZ
– Tesla (@Tesla) September 13, 2018
Tesla owners were informed that Tesla had activated the extra battery capacity. They were also offered a free Supercharging, which recharges the batteries to 80% in about 30 minutes.
"We hope this will give you the peace of mind to get you to a safe place," read the notice.
Normal battery configurations will return mid-October.
Tesla also extended its battery range last year during Hurricane Irma.
On GM vehicles from Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac, all OnStar members have access to crisis support services, such as in Florence, even though they are not usually subscribers . This means that people can use their cars to get out of disaster areas, find hotels, gas or use their vehicle as a point of WiFi access.
Mary Ann Adams, OnStar's Disaster and Crisis Response Officer, said on a phone call Friday that 25,000 calls had been received since Tuesday through crisis team crisis help always available.
"Since cars are connected, they provide connections they may not have," she said of people in the storm zone. For many, OnStar tools mean access to a phone and a charging source in working order. For others, this is a way to find a hotel or the latest updates from the storm.
"I think this is another tool to weather the storm and navigate the storm," she said.
After a storm, calls resume as damage is assessed and additional evacuations may be required. For some, it is important to check if they can go home. If they can, signaling and roads can be destroyed, resulting in further calls to the command center.
On Friday afternoon, according to the New York Timesfour deaths were linked to the storm. It is supposed to move southwest to South Carolina before heading north.
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