Our Research Director’s EV Powered His Family’s Home During Historic Storms
Earlier this month, Washington state experienced flooding that caused massive disruptions for families and businesses. There’s no doubt that the impacts of climate change helped bring about these historic storms – and likely made them more severe.
Our Research Director, Kevin Tempest, experienced the impacts of these storms firsthand at his family’s home in Whidbey Island. His family faced an extended power outage; here’s the story of how his electric vehicle (EV) came to the rescue!
The ability to provide backup power in an emergency was one of the key reasons Kevin and his family decided on their family-sized (for a 6’2 dad’s legroom) EV right around the time his family grew from three to four. He went with the Hyundai Ioniq 5, which was the first “vehicle-to-load” car to come to market in Washington, meaning the driver could draw power from the car’s battery for energy supply via the charge port.
Kevin’s house experienced a power outage just after midnight on December 17; it lasted approximately 36 hours. The family’s EV powered their home for the duration of the outage. They were able to use one kitchen appliance at a time (not including the refrigerator, which was fully operational throughout), any and all lights they needed, outlets to charge phones and computers, the internet, television, and a small space heater to heat individual rooms.
Along with the essentials, the power provided by their EV even allowed Kevin to stream live basketball games to watch local Whidbey Island hoopers he has coached! The Christmas tree lights stayed on, and the family enjoyed a movie night. One other unanticipated benefit: The EV provided completely silent backup power – unlike what would’ve been provided by a diesel generator.
After powering their home for 36 hours, the Ioniq 5 was still 82 percent charged!
Kevin’s story is a great example of an often undiscussed benefit of switching to an EV: It can dramatically increase personal and grid resilience. Having a high-capacity battery in your home means that you have an available and effective backup power source that can also help balance the entire grid during times of peak demand. This in turn reduces costs for all utility customers by using existing power infrastructure more efficiently and consistently, rather than building new and expensive peaker power plants.
Electric vehicles make your home more resilient, could even yield returns from utilities, and contribute to healthier air and a more resilient grid. If you’re curious about making the switch, you can use this tool to find a model that makes the most sense for you.
Kevin, his family, and the entire Clean & Prosperous team want to express our gratitude to the frontline personnel who worked round-the-clock to address the impacts of these catastrophic floods and return power to our communities.
Future of Carbon Policy Forum Happening Next Week!
We hope to see you January 8 at our 2026 Future of Carbon Policy Forum! Each year, the event brings together legislators, regulators, clean energy innovators, Tribal representatives, industry leaders, and climate advocates to focus the priorities ahead of Washington’s legislative session.
This year, we’ll have expert panels discussing the future of a linked carbon market with Washington, California, and Québec, how we can build clean energy infrastructure much, much faster, and we’ll hear from our David & Patricia Giuliani Clean Energy Entrepreneur award finalists!
If you have questions or would like to request a scholarship to attend the Future of Carbon Policy Forum, please reach out to event@cleanandprosperous.org.
Thank You to Our Sponsors!
Thank you to our sponsors for making the 2026 Future of Carbon Policy Forum possible!
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