Lost power, but we powered up using the car

songbird · ‎03-21-2010

We lost power today. Only about 2 hours. The big storms moved east and by the time it got here, no tornadoes or snow. Just a heavy rain all day. (It's still raining) But we did lose power. It was cold too. Above freezing. So my husband did what he told me he could do. We have an electric car. We powered our house, from the car. (gas boiler, lights downstairs and the refrigerator using the electricity supply from the car.) We even started the sump pump on battery. We do have a generator, but it's a pain to run it. But it took a few minutes to pull up a wire from the car to the house. After a while,our power came back up. Don't know why we lost power. But we had enough electricity to power the house for next three weeks using our car..

Rain should end tomorrow morning. I think we had close to 2 inches of rain. EDIT with the rain. Raining very hard right now (evening) Been like this all day.

Mz iMac · ‎07-26-2014

You should present what you did to a "marketing" company so they can make a commercial about that!

The things an electric car can do besides run the car.

"Never argue with a fool. Onlookers may not be able to tell the difference."

On It · ‎03-15-2021

Gee, that seems like a deal--a generator you can drive. Double return on your investment. Thank you for sharing. I saw a commercial implying it could be done, but I did not realize it was a fact.

songbird · ‎03-21-2010

@Mz iMac wrote:
You should present what you did to a "marketing" company so they can make a commercial about that!

The things an electric car can do besides run the car.

I think ti was mentioned in a Tesla commercial. We've never had a Tesla. Just a Mercedes. But it's got a great range, runs well and in emergencies, powers the house. Each year the range gets bigger (over 300 miles now) If we had the new Mercedes, we could have powered the TV also. Our car is a 2020 model. But we did it without the TV. We are recharging the car right now.

songbird · ‎03-21-2010

@On It wrote:
Gee, that seems like a deal--a generator you can drive. Double return on your investment. Thank you for sharing. I saw a commercial implying it could be done, but I did not realize it was a fact.

Yes. One more reason my husband decided on an electric car back in 2016. Nobody had them then. I think we were the first.

granddi · ‎03-16-2010

From Dallas Morning News

Toyota partners with Oncor on researching tech to send power from vehicles to grid

The automaker wants its EV owners to be able to use their cars to power their homes and communities or to send power back to the electric grid when it’s overwhelmed.

hckynutjohn · ‎06-15-2015

@songbird wrote:
We lost power today. Only about 2 hours. The big storms moved east and by the time it got here, no tornadoes or snow. Just a heavy rain all day. (It's still raining) But we did lose power. It was cold too. Above freezing. So my husband did what he told me he could do. We have an electric car. We powered our house, from the car. (gas boiler, lights downstairs and the refrigerator using the electricity supply from the car.) We even started the sump pump on battery. We do have a generator, but it's a pain to run it. But it took a few minutes to pull up a wire from the car to the house. After a while,our power came back up. Don't know why we lost power. But we had enough electricity to power the house for next three weeks using our car..

Rain should end tomorrow morning. I think we had close to 2 inches of rain.

@songbird

Power your house for 3 weeks on 1 battery charge? Should be able to drive at least 1500 miles without a charge.

And the brand name/year and model of this car is??

I know a 2023 Ford 150 Lightning EV Pickup Truck can power even up to 240 watts, along with 110 and 220, but! The engineer said nothing about lasting weeks, even using simple 110.

Interesting, because Ford has a long waiting list for this EV.
hckynut 🇺🇸

hckynut(john)

songbird · ‎03-21-2010

@granddi They show you how to do it. You need to buy some special batteries. My husband purchased them. It look less then 5 minutes to start it up. I was very relieved. It was in upper 30's. So the house started to get chilly quickly. But once we got it started up, no problem. This is actually the 2nd time we did this using the car. The other time our power was knocked out during a thunder storm.

songbird · ‎03-21-2010

@hckynutjohn I'll ask my husband. I thought he said it was 3 weeks. I might be wrong. I know the new Mercedes EQS range is over 360 miles. But that car also uses solar power too. (and costs an arm and a leg) I don't know about the new Ford pick up. I know the new pick up EV is 230 miles EPA and 68 MPGe. I don't know much about American EV's We only purchase German cars. Either a Mercedes or a BMW EV. And I've never had a Tesla. The new Ford Pick up EV is just $40,000.00.

Venezia · ‎03-09-2010

There's a current ad for the Ford F-150 mentioning this concept. Losing power, but your F-150 can act as a generator or power source.

I have an F-250, but it's my plow truck. I have a stand-alone generator in case of power outages (too many). I wouldn't risk draining the battery on my truck but then, it's not electric.

Technology is changing all the time.

ETA: @hckynutjohn - I hadn't seen your post before I wrote this. Glad I wasn't imagining the Ford advert!

"" A little learning is a dangerous thing."-Alexander Pope