Probably the single most plausible, if not the most likely, mega-disaster facing the modern world today is that posed by an EMP. Specifically, any nuclear- or non-nuclear EMP has the potential to cause widespread, catastrophic damage to the power grid, electronics and any other technology that relies on electronic components.
The disruption might be temporary, there could be repairable damage or they might even be permanently destroyed.
Modern vehicles are thought to be highly vulnerable to the effects of an EMP because they rely on so many computers and electronic components even for basic functionality these days.
It’s a good idea to protect your daily driver, or a backup vehicle, from the effects of an EMP. You can do this relatively cheaply by building a Faraday cage to enclose your car when you aren’t driving it. In addition, there are other little shielding solutions you can try to EMP-proof your vehicle.
Keep reading and I will tell you how…
Table of Contents
What is an EMP?
An EMP is an electromagnetic pulse, a sudden, rapid burst of electromagnetic energy that can create dangerous surges of voltage in conductive materials and overload or burn out vulnerable systems.
Although these pulses happen everywhere, on a small scale, all the time in our increasingly electronic world, we’re specifically worried about major EMPs, the ones that can cause serious damage or disruption.
EMPs of this magnitude are typically thought to be created by the detonation of nuclear weapons as a secondary effect, specialty non-nuclear EMP generator weapons or even potentially natural but very powerful cosmic phenomena, specifically solar storms.
Wherever they come from, the effects of an EMP are the same; it is only the magnitude that is different.
What is a Faraday Cage?
A Faraday cage is a conductive enclosure, basically an EMP protective “envelope” that surrounds vulnerable devices, systems or vehicles and protects them from the effects of the EMP by conducting the energy away harmlessly before it reaches the protected item.
It is a fancy term for what is in actuality a very simple piece of gear.
There are multiple styles of Faraday cages, but they typically just take the form of a bag, box, larger container or even a room-sized enclosure made from conductive metal mesh or paneling.
So long as the enclosing material is solid or has very small gaps that will prevent EMP energy from penetrating and there are no large gaps or opening in the protective envelope, everything inside the cage should be safe from the event.
You Can Make a Faraday Cage Big Enough for a Car?
Yes. A Faraday cage is not the size of a pet crate or a jail cell: A Faraday cage is a concept, and, in theory, so long as it’s properly made from the correct materials with serious care to prevent failures, a Faraday cage can be as big as you need it to be.
A Faraday cage can be slightly larger than your vehicle and still afford protection, and it’s even possible to make a Faraday cage that is as big as a carport or garage.
Essential Factors for Success
Believe it or not, it is entirely possible to DIY an effective Faraday cage from readily available and relatively inexpensive materials, even if you are building one big enough for your car.
However, there are some essential factors that you must keep in mind if you want this project to stand any chance of success during a live EMP event.
The Cage Must Enclose all Six Sides of the Car
The key concept with a Faraday cage is that it must fully enclose the item being protected. This includes your car!
It is not enough to build a five-sided, box that you lower over your vehicle, open on the bottom: your Faraday cage must enclose your vehicle on all sides, the top and the bottom.
The Car Should Not Be Directly Touching the Cage
Also, your cage should be large enough that no part of your vehicle is touching the material of the cage, and preferably it has several inches of clearance on all sides except the bottom, obviously but we have a plan for that too.
The bodywork of pretty much every vehicle is conductive, and if the bodywork is touching the material of the cage the energy of the electromagnetic pulse will flow from one to the other, completely defeating the purpose of the cage.
Your Car Should Be Sitting on Something Insulating
It is easy to forget that the ground itself is a major conductor, and even if you have the car parked inside a garage, a carport or on a concrete pad the concrete or asphalt it is resting on is likewise conductive.
Considering the tremendous energy levels associated with a nearby EMP event, it is not out of the question that it can flow through the ground, through the tires and into the vehicle damaging its sensitive components.
There is some uncertainty regarding this factor, but all of the available evidence suggests at the bottom of the cage and your car should be resting on something insulating, be it a thick rubber mat or other material.
You’ll Need to Take Care to Reduce the Vulnerability of Your Garage, Too
If you do have your vehicle parked inside a garage, simple metal shed or partially enclosed carport should also do what you can to prevent EMP energy from penetrating the structure.
Any wiring, conduits, metal structural members and so forth can effectively transmit the EMP energy from the outside of the structure to the inside.
Yes, the Faraday cage should protect your car from an EMP in this way but you can further increase your protection factor by keeping the car in a properly-built Faraday cage, and also minimizing the amount of EMP energy that can penetrate the structure itself.
Depending on the design of a garage, in particular, this may be difficult or impossible, but do what you can.
What Material Should You Use for Your Faraday Cage?
Conductive metal is the very best one to use for a Faraday cage. The ideal choice of non-exotic available metals is silver, though it is going to be quite expensive for obvious reasons.
Copper is the next best, nearly as good, and much cheaper. If this is unavailable or you need to go cheap or still, aluminum should work fine.
Any can be a solid sheet or mesh at your preference, but if it is mesh it should have very small gaps between the wire, no more than a centimeter at most- and smaller is better.
Much bigger brains than mine have opined on the nominal wavelength, or different wavelengths, that a powerful EMP should be and calculated what size openings these waves are able to defeat, but the only sure factor is that smaller, fewer gaps are always better.
Whatever material you choose, it should be sturdy enough to handle and withstand regular handling, but not so thick that it is extremely expensive or extremely heavy.
As a benchmark, a common, heavy-duty metal screen door or patio mesh should be more than adequate for our purpose.
Building Your Faraday Cage, Step by Step
Now, with all that out of the way it’s time to get down to the business of designing and building our Faraday cage.
1. Measure Vehicle
The first thing you should do is measure your vehicle’s overall dimensions. Front to back, side to side, and top to bottom. This will inform you how large your Faraday cage needs to be.
Remember: we do not want any part of the vehicle to touch the cage, and a larger buffer zone is generally better. Add 6 inches, minimum, to all sides and the top measurement to account for this buffer, and if you have the room and the material leave more.
2. Place Insulating Material on Floor/Ground
With your dimensions determined, lay down an insulating pad for the vehicle and the bottom of the cage to rest on. Make sure you have enough surface area for all four tires to rest completely on it.
Note that a solid pad is better than individual contact “patches” because this will afford the bottom of the cage more support.
3. Lay Out “Floor” of Cage
Using whatever material you selected, lay down the bottom panel or floor of the cage over the insulating pad you put down.
Keep in mind, whatever material you choose must be durable enough to withstand the vehicle driving over it carefully without breaking. Breaches in the Faraday cage will allow EMP energy to enter it!
4. Measure Out and Cut Sides
Now, measure out the sides of the cage according to your measurements taken earlier. The left and right panel should be identical or nearly so, as should the front and rear panels.
If you were to put them together, and you will be, this would form an open-topped rectangle or square.
5. Measure Out and Cut Top of Cage
Now, cut out the top of the cage according to your measurements.
6. Build Frame, if Needed
Depending on the material you chose, you might need to build a frame to support your panels if they cannot support themselves.
You want to use a non-conductive material for the purpose, and preferably something that is lightweight and easy to handle. I like PVC pipe for the purpose.
You can get it over the counter cheaply and the components make it a snap to measure and connect in various ways to support the cage itself.
7. Attach Sides at Corners
With your panels cut and your frame constructed, if needed, it’s time to build the walls of the cage. The objective is for your conductive material to form one continuous envelope.
Depending on your skills and your available material, you could weld the pieces together, use adhesive, solder them, braze them or even tape them. What matters is that each side is seamlessly connected to the others.
Also, stop here and think about how you will place your car in the cage, or place the cage over your car. Are you going to drive the car in or push it in? You’ll need a way to remove the front or back side of the cage easily for the purpose.
If you’re going to lower the cage over the car with a hoist, you can connect all of the sides and the top and leave them as one piece.
8. Attach Top
With the sides built and connected, use the same method of attachment to connect the top. Make sure it is seamless on all edges. Remember, any sizeable gap could result in a failure!
9. Connect to Bottom, if Necessary
With the sides built according to your needs, and the top connected, think about how you’re going to connect this part of the cage to the bottom that is resting on your non-conductive pad.
If you are lowering the cage over the car when it is parked, you’ll need to make sure that the edges are touching on all sides securely one way or the other.
If you’re driving the car or pushing the car into the cage, you can go on and connect it to the bottom part now permanently or semi-permanently.
DIY EMP Protection is Achievable
And that’s it. You’ve constructed your own Faraday cage capable of protecting your vehicle from an EMP, or at least giving it better protection than it would have otherwise.
Just use the right materials, prepare the location, take your time, and ensure there are no gaps in the cage once it is closed.
Hopefully, you’ll be able to start your vehicle right up after the big one goes off!
Tom Marlowe practically grew up with a gun in his hand, and has held all kinds of jobs in the gun industry: range safety, sales, instruction and consulting, Tom has the experience to help civilian shooters figure out what will work best for them.
It’s my thought that if and when we’re struck by an EMP event… most roadways will be full of inoperable vehicles. Back in the 1980’s I observed testing done by the US Navy to “harden” their communications stations in Hawaii from the effects of EMP by using a HUGE “spark” generator. It took out electronics all around the base: Televisions, stereos and yes some cars were effected. So I am a believer that the effects of a large scale, atmospheric EMP event will be catastrophic.
For mobility, it’s my belief that a reliable motorcycle that does NOT have any modern day electronics would likely be the BEST way to get through the huge parking lots we’re likely to find on the highways we might want to travel after such an “event”.
What use will my car be if I can’t go anywhere in it due to jammed streets/highways?
A good backup? Electric bicycle. Have a solar panel to recharge it!
Horseback. Doesn’t require petroleum products to operate. Grazing material is everywhere.
can you build a garage to house all your equipment. such as a metal building? How could you go about it please.
Having a 24. X 30 garage stick built w/ venal siding , insulated then tin roofing lining the interior completely except 2 small windows, 2 entrance doors and 2 garage doors made of aluminum. I have tin to fit the windows and doors. Not sure about the garage doors though. Thinking about rubber floor squares made for floors under the truck. Sounds good unless you have some thoughts.
much cheaper is to buy replacement electronics for vehicle and build a small Faraday cage to house those and other needed electronics such as radio Walkey talkies etc.
I have some of the old school toolboxes that are made of steel and aluminum. So I got some liquid electrical tape, (expensive), as well some Flex Seal Spray, (more expensive) and some Flexseal tape. I ordered faraday cloth which comes in about 48″x48″ cuts of silver, or copper, whatever you prefer, and in my opinion, the silver not only works just a little bit better, but it’s also much easier to keep clean over time. Once you touch the copper stuff, it smells like old pennies and looks like’em too. For this project I didn’t have that concern so I used both. I also utilized cardboard because it is corrugated and buys you some added separation between insulating materials, which is just as important as the material itself. I did very little insulating of the inside of the boxes to preserve the space needed, but the outside looked like a crocodile covered alligator, for surre. I added a special feature that took some time to get right, and that was installing solid rubber dolly wheels I got from grainger. I ordered the rod and bearings as well and used some 1/2″ emt straps to mount the rods, but that wasn’tt the special feature. I had an old pallet Jack that still had pressure enough to lift about 1000lbs, so I utilized the lifting components and the handle, basically the same setup as the pallet Jack before I confuse anyone. Then I added (4) P.O.A.’a, or, “point of attachments” which are typically made out of porcelain or glass. You see them on old ranch fences as the tops of the posts, but it’s best to use new if you can because the old ones will shatter under too much pressure. Anyhow, I added some small supports for the P.O.A’s to where they were a 1/2″ taller than the 8″wheels while at rest. So, essentially, all of my small handheld electronics are stored in this block of silver and mad rubber jacket that can be taken over rough terrain with ease and when I get to a stopping point, I lower the hydraulics by the handle and the entire box is slightly lifted off the ground and rest on the porcelain. Now, chances are, I spent a lot of time and material on a project that I may not use every day, but when you begin to think about going without some of these devices, it tends to get a little scary. I made a special spot to store moth balls and fuel treatment canisters because without fossil fuel, you aren’t going anywhere anyway. The electrical grid will go bye-bye in an EMP event, fyi. If I were president for a day, I’d tell China to do what they’re going to do today, because they won’t be around to enjoy it tomorrow if that’s how they want to play the game. On that same subject and I apologize for getting out of line here and off topic, but , word to the wise, any and all products that come from China consisting of metal, mainly steel, when tested for electromagnetic frequency (EMF), the levels are incredibly high, compared to american steel, which is minimal, if at all. And the Chinese steel doesn’t need to be energized to put out a 2,000 rating. Check all of your common items to be sure you’re not being exposed unneccesarily. I have had a “cold steel” pocket knife for about 10 years and every day it’s been in my back.pocket. it tested at 2,175. My benchmade tested at 28. I’ve also got a massage chair that I use all the time until I learned that the head and taint areas produce close to 3000, whether its plugged in, or not. Not that I need to tell you guys, but it’s just good for the soul, “I’d buy a Dodge made of poop and walk home before I buy foreign. “Thanks for the cup & vine! Be cool, gentleman! Out!