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by rsynnott 197 days ago
> The sparky has an EV van.

This one I'm always a bit dubious of, because, well, they're likely to have a lot of emergency callouts after a blackout. How are they charging their van?

ESB Networks, the Irish state grid operator, increasingly uses electric vans. I suppose maybe they have a backup generator wherever they keep them? On the face of it, it seems like they'd be the _last_ thing you'd want to electrify.
1 comments
Kirby64 197 days ago
You’re optimizing for the 0.01% here. Also, cars don’t lose their charge completely just because a blackout happens. Unless you pull in to the depot/charging area low on charge and then immediately a blackout happens, and then you need to go out while it’s still happened… driving it around shouldn’t be an issue.

Then, the other 99.9% of the time you get cheaper, quieter driving.

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rsynnott 197 days ago
Oh, yeah, definitely, but specifically for electricians it's a really _important_ 0.01%, I'd have thought.
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Kirby64 197 days ago
Most electricians don’t do this type of work, I’d say. For a grid operator, sure. For the standard guy coming to your house to do some wiring? No way.
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rsynnott 197 days ago
After a major blackout, I think it's fairly common for electricians to have a lot of work on; distribution boxes etc often don't take it well.
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Kirby64 197 days ago
Is this something common in Europe? We’ve had our fair share of blackouts in the US, some lasting days, and I’ve never ever heard of someone’s breaker panel (I assume that’s what you mean by distribution box) needing any service as a result of the blackout.
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rsynnott 197 days ago
I've had one power cut in the last decade (urban area, wiring generally underground), but I know people in rural areas who have power cuts a lot due to storms, and sometimes there are problems coming back up. Think it's mostly old-fashioned 'fuse boxes' with actual literal fuses in them that have problems (you don't strictly need an electrician to sort that, but some people are nervous of the giant fuses and I'm not sure I blame them...)

I don't think it's a particularly _common_ issue, but it definitely happens to some extent.

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