Unplugging for Thunderstorms & Lightning?

[mikef]

Do you unplug your Rivian when a big thunderstorm is in the forecast/you can see and hear lightning? Have any Rivians or EVs ever gotten fried from a thunderstorm?

I'm in Illinois so I get thunderstorms and lightning here (it's been storming the last day). I use the mobile charger at my house and usually keep my Rivian plugged in when it's in the garage.

When there's a big thunderstorm with lots of lightning coming through I usually go out and unplug it, in case something happens like lightning hits the power lines so that the vehicle won't get bricked. However I've lived in the Midwest my whole life and never had electronics get fried from a storm and never heard anyone talk about such a thing happening.

I figure it's probably not an actual issue--lightning would need to hit very close on my street + actually hit the electrical system + my vehicle would have to be drawing power from the grid at that moment for something to actually go wrong.

On the other hand, spending 10 seconds to go to the garage and unplug it to eliminate the possibility of lightning bricking it seems like there's no downside.

I don't think I've ever heard of an EV or Rivian getting bricked from lightning.

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[NY_Rob]

Yes there have been Rivians and other EV's that have been damaged while plugged in during electrical storms. If you have advance notice.. pull the plug!

 

[Redmond Chad]

I remember at least one Tesla getting fried by lightning. We once lost a microwave. It's not common, but it's not hard to avoid either.

My grandfather was killed by lightning...he saw the storm coming and headed back towards the house on his tractor, but didn't quite make it.

 

[Time2Roll]

I don't see much lightning but will switch my solar and the EV to off-grid during a storm.

 

[JacobAZ]

I have a whole home surge protector, designed to protect from lightning strikes to the connecting utility lines. It goes in the electrical panel.

 

[1stPlace]

I have a whole home surge protector which probably covers this. A year or two ago I watched a fireworks show of several electrical pole transformers explode in consecutive fashion within some view from my house in South East Michigan. My Rivian was plugged in and my power went off. I unplugged after the grand finale as a precaution until power was reliably back on. This story is entirely anecdotal and probably not that helpful. But yeah...whole home surge protection is probably sufficient.

 

[smashweights]

Pretty sure your Rivian will go 10x faster with sky electrons in it

 

[Rivian Owner]

Not a bad habit to unplug with storms predicted. I was at the Vegas airport and got delayed several hours because the control tower got hit by lightning. I had a coworker who lost all their appliances from a nearby strike.

While a whole house surge protector does provide some protection, there is no way they can shunt a close full strike's energy.

Rivian isn't going to provide warranty coverage for damage from a lightning strike. To me, it is worth the small effort to disconnect.

 

[Judd]

I unplug. I don’t plug in every nite so I look at the forecast and sort of plan my charge around days rain is predicted. Better safe than sorry.

I told my wife that conversation with the insurance company would suck

 

[Dasoss]

Do you unplug your Rivian when a big thunderstorm is in the forecast/you can see and hear lightning? Have any Rivians or EVs ever gotten fried from a thunderstorm?

I'm in Illinois so I get thunderstorms and lightning here (it's been storming the last day). I use the mobile charger at my house and usually keep my Rivian plugged in when it's in the garage.

When there's a big thunderstorm with lots of lightning coming through I usually go out and unplug it, in case something happens like lightning hits the power lines so that the vehicle won't get bricked. However I've lived in the Midwest my whole life and never had electronics get fried from a storm and never heard anyone talk about such a thing happening.

I figure it's probably not an actual issue--lightning would need to hit very close on my street + actually hit the electrical system + my vehicle would have to be drawing power from the grid at that moment for something to actually go wrong.

On the other hand, spending 10 seconds to go to the garage and unplug it to eliminate the possibility of lightning bricking it seems like there's no downside.

I don't think I've ever heard of an EV or Rivian getting bricked from lightning.

I never thought of that. I suspect many popular. level 1 and level 2 chargers have built in surge protectors. It's important that the charger is properly bonded to protective ground for this to work. Level 2 chargers have no neutral connection, so lost leg problems can't happen. Note that a lightning stroke creates o huge magnetic pulse that can cause damage to equipment hundreds of feet from the strike. I remember when lightning struck a tree hundreds of feet from a bueried conduit carrying computer lines. All of the optical isolator chips on the serial interface boards in a computer on the other side of campus just disappeared--vaporized.
My ham radio antennas have relays that disconnect the antennas and short them when the equipment is not turned on. In addition, they have gas discharge devices and static discharge resistors on the equipment side of the relays.
I live in a desert, so I'm just trusting to luck and the chargers designers on my car.

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