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Lyft offers free rides to relief centers during PG&E blackouts
With the planned power blackouts in California expected to continue for the next several days, Lyft is offering free rides until the end of October 15th to respite centers across parts of northern California. Each center includes restrooms, bottled water, a place to sit and charge your mobile devices, as well as air conditioning. Just note that they'll only be open during the day. Visit Lyft's website to view the full list of relief centers to see if there's one near you.
Musk: Powerpacks are coming to northern California Superchargers
As Pacific Gas and Electric blacks out power across wide swaths of northern California, Tesla CEO Elon Musk mentioned plans in place that could help Tesla owners during power outages. During past emergencies like hurricanes Irma and Florence, Tesla has used its OTA capabilities to give owners a boost, and its Powerwall can store additional power when it detects storms coming. People needing to charge their EVs might not be the same ones in most dire need of assistance while power is out, but it's a consideration under these circumstances, and an emergency he may be able to comment on without causing a lawsuit later. According to Musk, "All Tesla Supercharger stations in regions affected by California power outages will have Tesla Powerpacks within next few weeks." He also said the company is adding Tesla Solar to its stations "as fast as possible," so that drivers can get "24/7 clean power with no blackouts." While the power is out, drivers with combustion engines have trouble filling up too, but with Powerpacks, there's a backup plan. In 2017, the exec said the plan is to eventually disconnect Superchargers from the power grid entirely, and in July Tesla opened its first V3 location in Las Vegas with solar and battery power.
800,000 Californians could be without power by the end of the day
By the end of the day, more than half of all California counties could be without power. In an attempt to prevent wildfires, the state's largest utility Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) is rolling out a planned power outage. Once fully implemented, it will leave an estimated 800,000 customers in the dark and span from Silicon Valley to the Sierra.
