Car-Powered Homes

[nissangirl74]

"...Electric vehicles have huge batteries that store a large amount of energy. But for a large majority of the day and night, the car and it's battery just sit idle. Car manufacturers for Toyota and Nissan are starting to think about how to tap into that battery, both for use at home and as a resource for the power grid......"


http://news.discovery.com/autos/homes-g ... 20618.html

Your thoughts?

[jmann]

At the very least plug in hybrids should be able to run in generator mode, in case of power outages.

[Bubba1]

Your thoughts?

I can see some minor value as a backup source of power in case of a brief power failure at home if that's where you charge it, but off the top of my head, I see a much bigger downside.

1. Electric vehicles already have a limited range. so If you depend on the vehicle and need it while discharging power, you've either reduced the useable range even more or must wait til charging it back up.

2. Since you must charge up the car to use it, If you discharge it trying to save money by returning electicity to the grid, what happens when you want to use the car? Uh, You pay to charge it up again.

3. Unfortunately the length of outages are unpredictable. If you tie up your car powering your home during a PROLONGED outage, your car is pretty much dead as you have no way to recharge it until power is restored. But had you left it charged, you'd still be able to drive it during the outage. then you can drive it to a place there is power to recharge.

4. The more often you discharge/charge the batteries, the more you shorten their life and the sooner you will need to cough up the several thousand dollars to replace them. I'm sure that would exceed what you save discharging it to the grid.

[nissangirl74]

I agree with all your points. It doesn't seem very feasible or practical.

[Dattebayo]

While I do believe that more cars should have inverters these days, it's just silly to take it this far. Go buy a damn generator if you need extra power. And if you're trying to add into the grid, then get some solar panels installed if you think it actually makes a difference (it doesn't, by7 the way).

[MinisterofDOOM]

Bubba's points are all excellent.

It's a STUPID idea. Why not plug my cell phone into my house for emergency power? Or my effing Norelco? Oh, BECAUSE I NEED THE POWER TO USE THOSE DEVICES! GEEE WHODA THUNK.

Range for electric cars is already s***. Charge times are also s***. The last thing I want is something ELSE parasitically sapping the car's already limited power supply. Stupidest idea of the year.

You can buy a generator at the hardware store for a few hundred dollars. You can run it on a small amount of gasoline, and you can use it to charge batteries if you want. You can buy UPSes to plug your stuff into. There are tons of redundancy measures you can take to provide power during an outage. Why would you resort to one that will potentially leave you without transportation?

The other Big Problem with this idea:
How the Hell are you supposed to REcharge the car if you're experiencing a power outage long-term and widespread enough to leave you desperately needing power in the home in the first place?

STUPID IDEA. Whoever thought of it is stupid. Whoever failed to tell them that it was stupid is stupid.

Stupid.

[BusyBadger]

1. Electric vehicles already have a limited range. so If you depend on the vehicle and need it while discharging power, you've either reduced the useable range even more or must wait til charging it back up.

Actually, the people that would do this, thinking that it's a good idea wouldn't be driving anywhere anyway...

...with no electricity they wouldn't know how to open their garage door.

[nissangirl74]

1. Electric vehicles already have a limited range. so If you depend on the vehicle and need it while discharging power, you've either reduced the useable range even more or must wait til charging it back up.

Actually, the people that would do this, thinking that it's a good idea wouldn't be driving anywhere anyway...

...with no electricity they wouldn't know how to open their garage door.

[300ZXttZMAN]

2. Since you must charge up the car to use it, If you discharge it trying to save money by returning electicity to the grid, what happens when you want to use the car? Uh, You pay to charge it up again.

I had thought of this one right off the top of my head.

[Mr1der]

I put enough miles on my car without adding operation hours.

it's not built to be a generator and sustain a constant rpm to spin a the brushes on a generator.

diesel makes much more sense for that...