What exactly happens to an electronic device when hit by an EMP? Can it be turned on again?
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I have some familiarity with electric bike systems. The motors can tolerate voltage spikes and inductance spikes, but…the controller has capacitors that will fry if they are over-volted.
The lower the voltage limit of a capacitor, the more efficient it is. Low-efficiency components run hot, so highest-possible efficiency helps the components run cooler and last longer. the common 48V controllers have 63V capacitors. Even with a safety margin, the controller can see a 70V inductance spike under certain conditions.
Have you ever wondered why the house’s breaker will trip when there is a lightning strike nearby? If you take a section of wire and pass a magnet very fast next to it, a spurt of voltage will occur, as the magnetic field pushes/pulls the electrons in the wire. A strong magnet causes a high voltage. A lightning bolt has a strong invisible magnetic field around it, and if it is near power lines, its magnetic field will add voltage to the voltage that is already in the line.
An EMP is like a lightning bolt across a large area. Any wires nearby will experience a voltage spike out of nowhere. If that voltage exceeds the limits of the components, some of them will be fried. A Faraday Cage provides a low-resistance shell with a grounding wire to give that magnetic field a matrix to convert into voltage, and a route for the voltage to flow, hopefully saving whatever is inside the cage.
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