Phil Long Kia Utilizes EVs to Power Dealership After a Fire

In times of emer­gency or cri­sis, elec­tric vehi­cles (EVs) have proved to be valu­able assets beyond trans­porta­tion. These ver­sa­tile vehi­cles can serve as emer­gency pow­er sources for build­ings, offer­ing a life­line dur­ing black­outs, nat­ur­al dis­as­ters, or oth­er unfore­seen events. Lever­ag­ing their high-capac­i­ty bat­ter­ies, EVs can pro­vide crit­i­cal back­up pow­er to keep essen­tial build­ing func­tions oper­a­tional. This was the case for Phil Long Kia in Col­orado Springs.

Our part­ners at the Phil Long Deal­er­ships were able to find inno­v­a­tive solu­tions in a time of adver­si­ty, after a fire took place in the parts depart­ment of Phil Long Kia in Col­orado Springs on the night of Wednes­day, July 26. The fire left the shop dam­aged and with­out pow­er as the insur­ance com­pa­ny had instruct­ed to leave any facil­i­ty pow­er off until the cause of the fire was deter­mined. In the mean­time, deal­er­ship staff set up shop in a tent out­side, uti­liz­ing the pow­er of the elec­tric vehi­cles in their inven­to­ry to stay open.

Peter Buck­les, the deal­er­ships Gen­er­al Man­ag­er, spoke with local news sta­tion KRDO, to shed light on their unique approach to main­tain­ing oper­a­tions. Buck­les explained, "We have a Kia EV Niro and a Kia EV6. Both of these vehi­cles are lit­er­al­ly pow­er­ing my store," he fur­ther empha­sized the dura­bil­i­ty of EV bat­ter­ies, not­ing, "We have not charged [the Kia EV Niro] since yes­ter­day and we're still at 90 per­cent." This rev­e­la­tion not only speaks to the prac­ti­cal­i­ty of EVs but also to their impres­sive reliability.

The inno­va­tion didn't stop at their EV inven­to­ry; Phil Long Kia found strength in col­lab­o­ra­tion as well. Phil Long Ford of Motor City loaned two of their Ford F‑150 Light­nings, and Phil Long’s EVOut­let pro­vid­ed access to charg­ing sta­tions, ensur­ing the EVs remained charged. With just the elec­tric vehi­cles and access to charg­ing down the street, the EVs have the capa­bil­i­ty to pow­er the deal­er­ship for days. This sup­port ulti­mate­ly elim­i­nat­ed the need for gas gen­er­a­tors, and the noise and emis­sions that comes with them.

It is inspir­ing to think of this expe­ri­ence stretch­ing beyond dealership's walls and open­ing the eyes of oth­er busi­ness­es and indi­vid­u­als alike. It speaks vol­umes about the adapt­abil­i­ty, ver­sa­til­i­ty, and reli­a­bil­i­ty of elec­tric vehi­cles, posi­tion­ing them as a for­mi­da­ble solu­tion in chal­leng­ing sit­u­a­tions. While the elec­tric vehi­cles have been an invalu­able pow­er solu­tion for Phil Long Kia in the last few days, pow­er has since been restored to their shop.

Watch News Clip for more infor­ma­tion, here.