Is the takeaway to avoid EVs or to avoid I-95?
EVs arent really an issue, provided they are charged even half way. EVs dont use resitive heating (at least Teslas dont). Theres a video out there of a guy who parked his fully charged Tesla outdoors in below freezing temps, and was able to keep the interior heated to 68 degrees for over 70 hours. So, even after driving a bit, a fully charged EV should make ot 24 hours in thede circumstances. Hell, playing music and charging phones/laptops is a fraction of the power that heating is.
Of course that all assumes at least a mostly full charge. But it would be a similar situation for a ICE vehicle with a quarter tank of gas.
My bigger question is why did all these people just sit there? After a couple hours, simply browsing your phone would have told you the severity of the issue. Get your car to the shoulder, write a note with your phone number, and then walk somewhere to get food/water/a ride