You've plugged your electric car into your home charger and gone to bed. Overnight, strong winds knocked down a power line. Your charger is dead. Then came reports of fire, followed by evacuation orders. Your battery is only charged to 25%. And it's your only car.

That's the concern some California car buyers are voicing amid the fires that have devastated Los Angeles County and forced people to immediately evacuate their homes.

Gasoline vehicles "can be evacuated on any road in any direction and still have access to fuel when needed," said Matthew Butterick, a Los Angeles attorney who lives near Griffith Park. "There will be large queues and delays at electric vehicle stations along evacuation routes, and less at gas stations. And the grid may not be available. Power companies shut down power to avoid starting fires and also to avoid legal liability. This may be the case for all hillsides The future of the community.”

Val Cipollone, who lives in the wooded hills above Berkeley, echoed his sentiments. She owns a Nissan Leaf, an all-electric car with a range of about 220 miles, which she plans to sell.

"Who knows how far you have to drive" after a disaster, she said. "I used to think I would just have to drive to work. But who knows, I might have to go further."

To replace her electric car, she would say she would buy a hybrid or plug-in hybrid. However, she wouldn't consider a traditional gasoline car. “It’s a matter of conscience,” she said of the environment. “I don’t feel comfortable buying one.”

Fires aside, Cipollone's concerns are echoed by many potential car buyers. As U.S. sales of traditional fossil-fuel cars and light trucks plummeted (from 17 million in 2015 to 12.9 million last year), electric and hybrid vehicles began to take off, but over the past few years, as electric Automotive growth slowed, and sales of hybrid vehicles began to decline. Tears streaming down my face.

According to automotive data company Edmunds, hybrid vehicle sales will grow 63% in 2023 and 29% in 2024, reaching 1.8 million units. In the same year, the number of electric vehicles increased by 34% and 13% respectively, reaching 1.2 million vehicles. As of 2022, U.S. electric vehicle sales have increased by 45%.

Edmunds analyst Jessica Caldwell said that while electric vehicles are likely to return to high growth as car prices fall and public charging networks are built out, the industry appears to have run out of early adopters for now. market, must attract mainstream buyers.

Electric vehicles "require a different relationship than people have had before. They require a lot more planning," Caldwell said. This includes setting up home chargers, which sometimes require electrical upgrades; calculating routes for long trips to find places to charge; and finding available public chargers when charging stations are clogged or chargers are unavailable.

The situation may improve with the federal government's multi-year, multi-billion-dollar plan to install a public charger every 50 miles on interstate highways. If California's plan to subsidize chargers for multifamily properties succeeds, and those chargers prove reliable (a big if), electric vehicles could attract more mainstream buyers.

But right now, Caldwell said, "a lot of people aren't ready to change their lifestyles. They want to go green, but maybe they're not ready to go all-electric."

Veloz, a nonprofit that promotes the spread of electric vehicles, said in a statement that disasters would put "stress on all infrastructure" and that zero-emission vehicles are key to mitigating the effects of climate change.

"I think there's value in having a hybrid when you only have one car," Veloz communications director Margaret Mohr said in an interview. "However, they can't get an electric car All the benefits, and there will still be long lines at the gas station during emergencies.”

However, most major car companies are hedging their bets on all-electric vehicles. Ford has slowed the rollout of electric vehicles and accelerated the rollout of hybrids. (Already more than 20% of Ford F-150 pickup sales are hybrids.) Hyundai, which is selling well with its Ioniq 5 and other mid-priced electric vehicles, recently launched its so-called Hyundai Way program, which aims to offer a range of product power Assemblies, focusing on hybrid and plug-in hybrid.

Randy Parker, the new head of Hyundai and Genesis Motor's North American operations, said hybrids are "an important part of our strategy." He said that Hyundai hybrid vehicle sales will increase by 46% in 2024, while electric vehicle sales will increase by 28%. "We're doing our best to meet our customers' needs," Parker said. He said the company would not give up on electric vehicles and predicted it would return to faster growth "as consumers become more comfortable with infrastructure."

Cars.com analyst David Greene said consumers will have more choices when it comes to hybrid vehicles this year. A wave of new hybrid models will come online in 2025, including conventional hybrids and plug-in hybrids. (Both types combine a small car battery with an internal combustion engine, reducing emissions and improving gas mileage. A conventional hybrid doesn't require plugging into a power source; it uses the gasoline engine to charge. But it can't run a plug-in hybrid Has a larger battery (typically 30 to 50 miles of range) and can be powered by a regular 110-volt household outlet overnight. It can run on battery alone until the battery is drained and the engine is required for commuting. The distance has been exceeded).

Growth in hybrid vehicles has been largely driven by Toyota, Green said, not just with the Prius line, the granddaddy of hybrids, but also with the Camry, Highlander, RAV4 and other popular models. (In fact, the Camry is only available with a hybrid powertrain.)

What impact the Los Angeles fires may have on powertrain options has yet to be determined. "I don't think (the fires) will have a large-scale impact" on electric vehicle sales, Caldwell said. However, some people will find the idea attractive: "You have a full tank, you can get out of there, and you don't have to worry about filling up for 300 miles."

Butterick is one of them.

When the Sunset Fire broke out in the Hollywood Hills, he told The Times: "I had just put gas in my car." "I didn't want to evacuate in an electric car."