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An electric vehicle owner has used her car’s emergency power system to run her 11-year-old son’s lifesaving dialysis machine and another has ridden to the rescue of his neighbours after devastating storms cut power in south-east Queensland.

When the power went down following storms and flash flooding on Christmas Day, many residents immediately felt the consequences: electric gates did not work, septic tanks began to fill, air conditioners could not run and fridges began to warm as a heatwave followed.

But some electric vehicle drivers whose cars are equipped with “vehicle to load” systems – a back-up power system that allows the car to act as an emergency generator or supply for devices such as lights, laptops, TVs and refrigerators – stepped in to help out and, in some cases, save lives.

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[-] Thorry84@feddit.nl 9 points 10 months ago

I have a gas powered car, it has a mains outlet in the back of the center console. As far as I know this isn't anything special or new. My car is a 2016 Chevy nothing special.

[-] reddig33@lemmy.world 16 points 10 months ago

The special part is there’s no risk of carbon monoxide poisoning and it’s about 1/3 of the energy costs.

Vehicle to grid chargers mean you can use your electric car as a house backup battery when the power goes out. Not all EVs support this yet, but it should become commonplace in the next two years.

[-] Lichtblitz@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Having a static battery in the house that gets additional cycles, isn't a big issue. Who cares if the capacity decreases by an additional 10 percent because of added cycles. Just get a battery that's 10 percent larger from the start or add additional cells when you feel like it. In a mobile form factor, 10 percent can be a big difference. You can't just scale up the battery when you feel like it and in the worst case scenario you would have to replace it. That's why I would always be very conservative with using a car battery that way.

[-] thallamabond@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

Those in car outlets are typically for small electronics. 2016 Tahoe for example is a 150 Watt max, while a typical fridge uses 300-800. So please don't depend on it for that.

this post was submitted on 31 Dec 2023
231 points (93.9% liked)

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