--- title: "Texans Are Sleeping In Their Teslas to Survive Freezing Cold" description: "Amid rolling blackouts, Texans are having to get creative to stay warm. Some are sleeping in their Tesla vehicles overnight." date: "2021-02-19" modified: "2021-02-19" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/texans-sleeping-teslas-survive-freezing-cold" categories: - "Advanced Transport" - "Health & Medicine" - "Sleep" - "Tesla" tags: - "elon musk" - "tesla" - "texas" - "the digest" --- # Texans Are Sleeping In Their Teslas to Survive Freezing Cold ![Amid rolling blackouts, Texans are having to get creative to stay warm. Some are sleeping in their Tesla vehicles overnight.]() *\Image: Tesla\* ## Heat Seeker Texas was gripped by a deep freeze this week, bringing the second largest state in the United States to its knees. Millions are still without power, while many more continue to lack access to clean water or even water at all. Amid rolling blackouts, Texans are having to get creative to stay warm, as homes predominantly use electricity as a heat source in the state. But Tesla owners had an ace up their sleeve. Thanks to their vehicles' hefty batteries, some opted to sleep in their cars with the heater running — without running the risk of dying from carbon monoxide poisoning, as [*The New York Post* reports](). ## Catching Zs "So my wife my dog and my newborn daughter slept in the garage in our Model 3 all nice and cozy," one user on the subreddit TeslaMotors wrote, as quoted by the *Post*. "If I didn’t have this car, it would have been a very rough night." Thanks to a two-way [vehicle-to-grid feature]() included in Tesla's PowerWall, the company's home battery solution, some users were able to power their homes using the batteries in their Tesla vehicles, [*VICE* reports](). https://twitter.com/dayyanl/status/1361488731195146243 ## Power Backup Others were able to weather the storm by drawing backup power from their PowerWalls. Some who opted to install solar panels on their roofs were also able to store enough energy in their PowerWall systems to use during blackouts. Using electric vehicles as a form of survival isn't exactly a long term solution to Texas' power grid woes — but at least it can offer a hand while political leaders face off with electric grid operators to get the state back on its feet. **READ MORE:** [Elon Musk slams Texas power grid operator for being unreliable]() \[*New York Post*\] **More on Texas:** *[Elon Musk, Who Moved to TX For Less Regulation, Is Furious That the Power Went Down]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()