Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) events, often depicted in post-apocalyptic scenarios like William S. Forschten’s One Second After, present a chilling vision of cars rendered useless, highways gridlocked, and motorists stranded. The novel’s portrayal of only a 1959 Edsel, devoid of modern electronics, surviving a high-altitude EMP (HEMP) has fueled countless online searches for “EMP-proof vehicles” and a surge in related products.
As experts at Car Repair Online, we’ve delved into the research and consulted with specialists to bring you a realistic understanding of how EMPs might affect your vehicle and the feasibility of repair. The reality is nuanced, far from the clear-cut scenarios often depicted in fiction.
- While it’s plausible that a significant number of cars might still function to some extent after a HEMP, numerous unpredictable variables could determine the fate of any specific vehicle. Guaranteeing survival, short of a full Faraday cage enclosure, remains impossible.
- There’s no magic year, make, or model to buy for EMP resistance. Older, pre-1970s vehicles are often cited as better, but their practicality in today’s world is limited.
- Investing in an “EMP-proof car” that can withstand an EMP outside a Faraday cage is generally not a sensible preparedness strategy. Unless all other critical preps are in place, focusing on this obscure and complex area is often a misallocation of resources.
- Because EMP-proofing your vehicle is not a primary concern in sane prepping, it’s crucial to shift focus to more impactful preparations for a major EMP disaster.
For our comprehensive guide on EMP risks and survival strategies, we’ve examined essential research papers, commission reports, and consulted with leading experts in the field.
Understanding EMP Damage to Cars
An EMP event damages modern electronics by inducing a surge of unexpected electrical current, overwhelming sensitive circuits. External wires, acting as antennas, channel the EMP’s energy directly into vulnerable components. Longer wires amplify this effect, increasing the potential for damage.
Modern vehicles, packed with advanced, low-voltage circuits, are particularly susceptible. As electronics become more sophisticated, even shorter wires can accumulate enough current to cause critical failures.
HEMP Threat Realities
It’s important to contextualize the HEMP threat. A nuclear-generated HEMP attack on a large area is essentially a nuclear war scenario. In such an extreme event, vehicle functionality becomes a secondary concern compared to immediate survival.
Solar EMPs, while more probable, are less likely to directly disable cars. Solar storms lack the high-frequency components necessary to disrupt the smaller electronics found in vehicles. However, solar EMPs pose a significant indirect threat by potentially crippling the nation’s energy infrastructure.
Government agencies possess classified knowledge about vehicle vulnerability to nuclear HEMPs. General guidelines, however, are publicly available:
- Newer vehicles are generally more vulnerable to HEMP.
- Pre-1970s cars are considered less vulnerable, but their resilience is still not guaranteed.
- Faraday cages offer the most reliable protection for critical electrical components in any vehicle.
While a car’s metal body provides some shielding, it’s inconsistent and offers only partial protection, reducing damage probability by an uncertain degree depending on numerous factors.
Variables Determining Car Survival After EMP
The survival of a vehicle post-EMP depends on a complex interplay of factors:
- Nuclear blast size and altitude
- Geographic location and magnetic field variations
- Vehicle orientation relative to the blast
- Car’s metal component quantity and distribution
- Design and location of critical electronic systems
- Length of wiring and cables connected to electronics
These variables combine to create highly specific scenarios, making predictions for individual vehicles nearly impossible. For instance, your older diesel tractor might malfunction, while a modern Tesla in another state could experience only a temporary glitch and remain operational. Predictability is exceptionally low.
Even enclosing a vehicle in a Faraday cage doesn’t guarantee it will be the most pressing issue after an EMP. Securing transportation and fuel are likely to be far more significant challenges.
Navigating Roads in an EMP Aftermath
Roadways and navigation will be severely impacted. The primary obstacle won’t be solely EMP-disabled vehicles, but rather the cascading effects of non-functional traffic lights and grid failures. A single stalled vehicle in heavy traffic can trigger massive, long-lasting pile-ups, especially without emergency services to clear them.
Therefore, a practical post-EMP vehicle needs robust off-road capability. However, owning an off-road vehicle alone is insufficient. Expert off-roading requires extensive practice and specialized equipment like winches and jacks. Even experienced off-roaders often rely on external assistance, which might not be available post-EMP.
Furthermore, blocked bridges, overpasses, and other bottlenecks might render even the most capable off-road vehicles useless beyond a certain radius.
Fuel availability poses another critical challenge. The fuel distribution network, from pipelines to local stations, will likely be disrupted. Reliance on stored fuel or electric vehicles with independent solar charging becomes essential.
Debunking the Myth of EMP-Proof Cars and Snake Oil Solutions
Beyond niche vehicles like the Rezvani Tank, no mass-produced car model guarantees EMP protection. Similarly, consumer gadgets claiming to offer easy EMP shielding are unreliable. No aftermarket device, short of a complete Faraday cage, can reliably safeguard your car.
Claims about specific model year ranges (e.g., pre-1950s) being inherently EMP-proof are also misleading. Experts only suggest that older cars, particularly those predating widespread solid-state electronics (pre-early 1970s), are less vulnerable, not immune. No vehicle is guaranteed to survive a direct EMP strike, and conversely, no car is certain to fail. Luck and circumstance play a significant role.
While smaller electronics with short external cables might survive depending on cable length and component design, this is highly variable across car models and years. Assessing this requires detailed disassembly and measurement, making broad generalizations impossible. Even classic cars from the 1950s have electrical components and wiring that could be vulnerable if close enough to an EMP.
Choosing an older vehicle for EMP preparedness involves trade-offs. You might reduce some EMP risk but significantly increase the risk of ordinary maintenance issues and parts scarcity associated with antique cars.
Practical Options and Realistic Expectations
Considering these realities, your options are:
- Electric Vehicles: Require storing both the vehicle and solar charging equipment within a large Faraday cage for reliable EMP protection.
- Older Vehicles (Pre-Solid State Electronics): Either store the entire vehicle in a Faraday cage, or identify, acquire, and Faraday-cage-protect critical spare electrical parts. Fuel storage and mechanical expertise are also essential.
- Modern Vehicles (Solid State Electronics): Faraday cage storage for the entire vehicle is necessary. Fuel storage remains a concern.
- Accepting Risk: Gambling that your car or a neighbor’s car will survive is a surprisingly reasonable “sane prepper” approach. It acknowledges the low probability of a direct EMP car failure being the primary post-EMP challenge.
The Vulnerability of Modern Cars: Solid-State Electronics
Solid-state electronics, using semiconductors like transistors and computer chips, are the primary vulnerability in modern vehicles. These low-voltage components are easily damaged by sudden electrical surges. EMPs induce current spikes in connected wires, often sufficient to burn out these delicate circuits.
Virtually all vehicles produced in recent decades incorporate solid-state electronics to varying degrees. Newer models rely on them extensively for critical functions. Even by 1972, solid-state electronics were being integrated into essential automotive systems like braking and fuel injection, as highlighted in a Popular Electronics article from that era.
Even older cars without solid-state circuits can suffer electrical damage from EMPs if sufficiently close to the blast, affecting any component with external wiring.
Preppers focused on older vehicles often stockpile spare alternators, ignition coils, and other electrical parts within Faraday cages to enable post-EMP repairs.
Disregarding EMP Snake Oil and Misinformation
Beware of misleading information circulating online. Reports claiming that EMP Commission tests in 2004 showed cars largely unaffected, or videos depicting cars restarting after EMP generator tests, are often inaccurate or deliberately misleading. These were not realistic EMP tests.
The EMP Commission tests were limited to avoid damaging the borrowed vehicles and didn’t replicate real-world EMP conditions. Televised “tests” were often staged and not scientifically valid.
Anecdotal accounts from 1960s Russian and US high-altitude nuclear tests, where some cars survived, are also unreliable for modern preparedness planning. These tests are classified, and interpretations of their relevance to contemporary vehicles vary widely among experts.
Sane prepping relies on current, verifiable information, not outdated anecdotes or staged demonstrations.
Classified EMP Tests and Vehicle Vulnerability
While EMP tests on vehicles have been conducted by both the military and automakers, results remain confidential. Military tests are classified due to their basis in classified nuclear weapon capabilities and EMP characteristics, and their use in hardening military equipment.
Automaker tests primarily focus on electromagnetic compatibility between vehicle electronics, not necessarily HEMP resilience, except perhaps for specific military-requested data on certain models. Therefore, widespread HEMP testing by automakers is unlikely.
Vehicle design variations across makes, models, and years, including different electronic components and wiring layouts, make broad generalizations about EMP vulnerability impossible.
Despite limited public data, the fundamental vulnerability of modern cars to EMP is well-established. John Kappenmann, a lead researcher in government-sponsored METATECH reports on EMP effects, stated in a 2018 interview:
Silicon-based electronics do not fail gracefully. They’re very brittle. They spark over, and you’re in the process of buying new equipment to get it back up and running.
He emphasized that protecting electronics from EMP requires Faraday cages rather than trying to engineer inherent resilience to extremely high voltage/meter threats. This principle applies to vehicles as much as to electrical substations, as both use similar embedded systems and components. Vehicle fuel injection, braking, and other critical systems are as vulnerable as substation controls.
Practical EMP Protection: Faraday Cages
If EMP protection is a priority, Faraday cages are the only guaranteed solution. For regularly used vehicles, a sealed metal garage, including a conductive floor seal, acts as a large Faraday cage. Parking and sealing the vehicle inside offers reliable protection.
Ineffective “EMP Protection” Gadgets
Beware of online gadgets marketed as easy EMP shielding solutions. While some might offer limited surge protection against lightning-like E2 pulses, they are ineffective against the more damaging E1 pulse that targets solid-state circuitry. These gadgets, typically surge protectors connected to the battery, don’t protect data cables or other wiring not directly linked to the power system. EMPs can induce currents in these unprotected circuits, damaging electronic components via data ports. Despite marketing claims and certifications, these gadgets are not a reliable EMP protection method.
In conclusion, while the idea of repairing your car after an EMP is appealing, focusing solely on vehicle repair is a misplaced priority in EMP preparedness. Understanding EMP effects, debunking myths, and focusing on broader survival strategies, including reliable transportation alternatives and community preparedness, are far more crucial for navigating a post-EMP world.
