Mud Army Fights the Flood Mud with Hyundai Ioniq 5

You may have seen it on the news — Brisbane, Queensland, has received unprecedented amounts of rain over the past few days and low-lying areas are flooded yet again. The state capital received over 80% of its annual rainfall in 3 days. (My house endured over 1 meter of rain.) The state government is mobilizing the army and an army of volunteers — nicknamed “the mud army” — to help clean up after the flood waters go down, as the government did in 2011. Now, the mud army is fighting the flood mud with an Ioniq 5.

Paul Guard lived in a low-lying area during the 2011 Brisbane flood and received generous help to clean up and restore his property. He has since moved to higher ground, but some of his old neighbors have not. Today he is paying back that generosity, visiting his old neighbors and bringing his Ioniq 5 and a high-pressure water cleaner.

The Ioniq 5 has vehicle-to-load capability, so Paul has a very large portable battery at his disposal. It did a great job of running two pressure cleaners simultaneously. The combined load was probably 3.2 kW (the car supplies up to 3.6 kW). He also used it to charge up a big power bank that another neighbor was using to power all of their appliances.

Paul posted his story on the “Electric Vehicles for Australia” Facebook page and received scores of compliments. This is how you win people over to replace their gas/diesel cars with full electric cars. Well done with your big heart and big effort in helping people out, Paul.

One of my major quarrels with Tesla is that it doesn’t enable this as a feature. Damn shame.

Please share this to the local Facebook pages! Maybe some car replacement choices will change!

Paul has had his Ioniq 5 for about 2 months and bought it for its vehicle-to-load capability. He was lucky to get it, as only about 500 arrived in Australia and demand was very high. He and his family are avid campers and like the idea of powering their campsite with the car battery rather than a noisy diesel generator — the battery being charged up at home off of his rooftop solar power system.

The car also provides a modicum of energy security. If the power is down, petrol bowsers cannot pump, but you can still power your car and run your house with rooftop solar.

There are a lot of factors increasing demand for electric cars in Australia. Petrol is at an all-time high — AUS$1.80 a liter, equivalent to AUS$8.00 a gallon — and is likely to go even higher with the current international crisis. Cheaper EVs are promised from China, and the IPCC is ringing climate alarm bells. In the midst of this, an ordinary guy with an extraordinary vehicle is helping people in distress. Well done, Paul! And Hyundai.