When you live in the South or somewhere with warm or mild winter, many everyday things of people in the north may not seem obvious on first view. They may even be totally unknown to you because they wouldn’t have a function or use at home. Read this real life story for an answer on “what is a plugin for a car?”, and for entertainment.
- A Male Plug Hanging Out of the Hood
- Plugins Serve to Operate to the Block Heater
- You Have to Order a Block Heater as Extra When Buying a Brand-New Car
- What She Meant with “The Cord Tells Us How Cold It Is.”
- Starting Your Car with a Remote Control
- Plugins Can Reduce Winter Air Pollution
- Look of the Day
Disclosure: There are affiliate links in this post.
A Male Plug Hanging Out of the Hood
When I was the first time in Alaska for my job interview at the university, the wife of the search committee chair had picked me up at the hotel. I saw a male plug hanging out of the hood of her car. Therefore, I said to her “You have an extension cord hanging out of your hood.” She smiled and said “No, it’s just the male plug to connect to the extension cord.” “What for?” was my follow-up question. About 20 years ago, electro cars weren’t a thing except in warehouses. “To plug your car in when it’s cold in winter.”
Plugins Serve to Operate to the Block Heater
I must have made a face like a question mark or so. After a short pause she explained that Alaskan cars have a motor block heater. This heater serves to keep the engine and battery warm so the car would start when it is standing outside in negative temperatures (temperatures below -18oC).
Then she pointed to the about a yard high (~1 m) poles in the parking lot of the hotel. Due to my jet-lack and stress related to interviewing, I hadn’t even taken notice of them. “See these poles? They are to provide the electricity for the block-heaters. You connect your car with a connection cord to power the block heater. Such connections exist in the parking lots of schools, employers, public buildings and even private residences. Sometimes permafrost causes plugins to stand at an angle – like that one.” She pointed to a pole on the other side of the street. With a sudden, I saw them everywhere, and realized that all cars – including my rental car – had a male plug hanging out of their hood.
She continued “The cord tells us how cold it is.” Because I already had inquired what is a plugin for a car, I put on my poker face to hide my thought “What on Earth is that supposed to mean?”
You Have to Order a Block Heater as Extra When Buying a Brand-New Car
Anyhow, when we came to Alaska and had the challenge to buy a new car without credit reports, we demanded to add a block-heater so we could plug-in.
What She Meant with “The Cord Tells Us How Cold It Is.”
In the first winter, I learned fast what she meant with “The cord tells us how cold it is.” The colder the ambient air, the stiffer the cord becomes. At 40 below, you can hold the about 4 to 5 yards (3.66 to 4.57 m) long cord horizontally, vertically or at any angle in the air like a stick. The cord won’t bend on its own. Therefore, you have to bend it to get it into your trunk, roll it around your side mirror or about the hooks when you have a Wrangler (see photo).
Starting Your Car with a Remote Control
Plugging in your car is not only about getting your car to start in the cold. You could as well idle the engine for ten to 15 minutes every two or three hours. In deed, the majority of people even use a remote control to do so. The remote starts (and stops running) the engine of automatic cars. The owner just goes to the window and points the remote towards their car.
Some car owners plug their cars in and use the remote control to idle the car its inside is already warm when they enter the car.
Plugins Can Reduce Winter Air Pollution
In winter, you see a lot of cars and trucks with diesel engines idling all by themselves in front of stores, in mall parking lots and in front of restaurants. Of course, idling your car means that your car produces emissions. Even worse, running an engine on low load means incomplete combustion. Or in plain English, high emissions.
Speaking of Alaska air quality, did you know that there exists an optimum speed at which emissions are lowest? Above that speed emissions increase again.
When you plug in your car, the block heater warms the engine (and battery). Consequently, when you start the engine its emissions are smaller than when it would start (if at all) at low temperature. Cold-start emissions increase with decreasing temperature. Therefore, plug-ins help to reduce winter air pollution in Arctic and sub-arctic cities.
Look of the Day
Now that you know what is a plug-in for a car let’s look another example of how to get more wear out of your wardrobe. Here I am wearing a dress as a skirt by pulling a sweater on top. To imitate the half tuck, I pinned the sweater to the dress.
How do you like this look? How do you “pretend” to have a larger wardrobe than you actually have? Just curious.
Photos of me: G. Kramm
Photos of equipment: N. Mölders
© 2013-2022 Nicole Mölders | All rights reserved
That is crazy. I remember having a patient from the Northern part of Canada tell me things like this.
XOXO
Jodie
That makes sense about the cars! Something you wouldn’t think of until you lived there. Your skirt is really pretty and festive. Love the boots with it.
chez mireille fashion travel mom
This is not easy weather to deal with. I love snowy Christmas. And I like do downhill skiing, but otherwise I prefer warm. o) I wish you Merry Christmas.
Anna
Gamadventure
Very interesting about plugin heaters for the engine. Yikes! Sooooo cold.
Your outfit is so pretty! The “skirt” is such a lovely print. And what a great way to layer.
Michelle
mybijoulifeonline
Oh and award! I am so honored 😉
I can only imagine this type of need for your weather – in my case its 34 degrees outside and we are just transitioning to our winter which is just rain.
Interesting read! I don’t think I could deal with the amount of darkness and cold weather you all have! On a fashion note, I love red on you! Your floral skirt is lovely with the red top.and I love the chain detail on you boots.
Merry Christmas!
jess xx
elegantlydressedandstylish
Und ich dachte, ein Plugin ist nur etwas für einen WordPress Blog 😀
Danke fürs Verlinken meines Outfits.
Wünsche Dir ein schönes Adventswochenende.
Liebe Grüße Sabine
You look stunning! red looks so good on you!
Edwige
Interesting how things work a little different over there. My husband would love an electric car. I really love these bright colors on you and those boots are so fun!
Carrie
curlycraftymom
Great information about how you can keep your cars going in Alaska. We were wondering about it last winter when we had the Polar Vortex, how you guys deal with that kind of weather more regularly! I surely could have used a plug in on my car then! It wouldn’t start on several days, ended up having to replace my car battery at some point.
Your outfit looks looks beautiful! Loving that skirt!
Ellibelle’s Corner
Oh wow! I never knew Alaska had plug ins, but I’m jealous. That would be nice in Wisconsin as we deal with dead car batteries all the time. On extremely cold nights, we might get up in the middle of the night just to start the car to keep the battery from freezing. Such fun, I know. But we also put lightbulbs under the hood in really bad weather to keep the engine warm. I love your outfit. The color is gorgeous.
plug ins are a true necessity for so many of us. cute outfit
Nicole, I love your outfit! It is so pretty and the perfect holiday style. I have heard of plug ins in Alaska from lots of military people who have been stationed there. I wonder why we don’t have that here in Northern NY. It is currently -16F as I sit here typing this, hoping my car starts when it’s time to leave! Wishing you a very happy holiday! Stay warm!
Shelbee
I love the cool chain details on your boots and what an excellent tip to pin the sweater to get the half-tuck look over a dress…I’m definitely using that idea! That is so interesting about the cars. It does make sense though because otherwise no one’s cars would start in the frigid temperatures.
Debbie
I always love learning all about living in Alaska. The unique difficulties of Alaskan winters blow my mind and are so interesting. Little things such as starting our cars in the winter, we take for granted.
Thanks for sharing “life in the High Latitude”
Regan