Rolfe
Adult human female
We're in the middle of Storm Éowyn at the moment and the power has been completely stable. Not even a flicker that I noticed (although to be fair I've only just turned the lights on). But all these warnings of power cuts got me thinking. I've probably got about 30 kwh in the garage doing nothing right now.
My solar-and-battery system doesn't work in power cuts, I know that. It chatters back and forward with the grid all the time. However, there is an add-on that will let it work during a power cut, and I'm thinking about getting that. Absolutely mad to have a home battery with plenty power there for the whole day and night, and I can't use it if the grid goes down. In particular, I've no way to keep the central heating boiler going.
So what could I have done today if the power had gone off? I could run an extension lead from the car into the house, but the geometry of that isn't great, especially to get the extension lead into the cupboard where the fridge and freezer sockets are. If I did that though, it would let me boil the kettle, run the microwave, run the TV and hifi and broadband. Alternatively I could take the kettle (and even a small microwave I have) out to the garage and operate them beside the car. Tea, coffee, cup-a-soup, pot noodles, microwave meals. I could recharge the computer battery, and in fact my phone, Kindle and so on recharge from USB sockets in the car anyway. I'm not sure about taking the wifi router out into the garage though!
The main issue is heat though. If I used a resistance heater it would drain a lot from the car to heat even one room. Maybe better to decamp into the car itself with the heater on, which I know only uses about 1% of the battery per hour after the initial heat-up period. I saw a video from Wales of someone with a car which didn't have VtL where the family, particularly the kids, did that, using their phones and tablets charged from the car battery and keeping warm.
But it's all bloody ridiculous. I need to enquire about the add-on to let the house run from its own battery during a power cut. And then about getting a battery charger that would let the house battery be charged from the car's VtL if the power cut was prolonged. In fact one could do on indefinitely like that (although it would be expensive) so long as there was a public charger live not too far away. If the car got low (and it won't drain below 20% from the VtL, which is about 30 miles), just take it to the charger, fill up, and back to the house. I have friends who were off for two weeks after the 1987 storm in Sussex, so it's always in the back of my mind. I've asked my supplier what's practical anyway, so we'll see.
In any case, though, it's becoming obvious that having an EV during a power cut can be a significant advantage, even if all you do is use it as an extra room which has heat and power.
My solar-and-battery system doesn't work in power cuts, I know that. It chatters back and forward with the grid all the time. However, there is an add-on that will let it work during a power cut, and I'm thinking about getting that. Absolutely mad to have a home battery with plenty power there for the whole day and night, and I can't use it if the grid goes down. In particular, I've no way to keep the central heating boiler going.
So what could I have done today if the power had gone off? I could run an extension lead from the car into the house, but the geometry of that isn't great, especially to get the extension lead into the cupboard where the fridge and freezer sockets are. If I did that though, it would let me boil the kettle, run the microwave, run the TV and hifi and broadband. Alternatively I could take the kettle (and even a small microwave I have) out to the garage and operate them beside the car. Tea, coffee, cup-a-soup, pot noodles, microwave meals. I could recharge the computer battery, and in fact my phone, Kindle and so on recharge from USB sockets in the car anyway. I'm not sure about taking the wifi router out into the garage though!
The main issue is heat though. If I used a resistance heater it would drain a lot from the car to heat even one room. Maybe better to decamp into the car itself with the heater on, which I know only uses about 1% of the battery per hour after the initial heat-up period. I saw a video from Wales of someone with a car which didn't have VtL where the family, particularly the kids, did that, using their phones and tablets charged from the car battery and keeping warm.
But it's all bloody ridiculous. I need to enquire about the add-on to let the house run from its own battery during a power cut. And then about getting a battery charger that would let the house battery be charged from the car's VtL if the power cut was prolonged. In fact one could do on indefinitely like that (although it would be expensive) so long as there was a public charger live not too far away. If the car got low (and it won't drain below 20% from the VtL, which is about 30 miles), just take it to the charger, fill up, and back to the house. I have friends who were off for two weeks after the 1987 storm in Sussex, so it's always in the back of my mind. I've asked my supplier what's practical anyway, so we'll see.
In any case, though, it's becoming obvious that having an EV during a power cut can be a significant advantage, even if all you do is use it as an extra room which has heat and power.
