Cybertruck as mobile powerwall

[bkp_duke]

Sorry, but that really doesn't make a lot of sense to me. If you were 99% self-sufficient. Then why would an SDG&E rate change impact you?

Things in life change, we have kids and one is a teenager. Will probably add a 3rd EV soon as well.

Plus, and I'm from not far from you originally so I have some experience with electric companies in the Southeast. SDG&E is not like the utilities down where you are. You get your bill there and pay it and don't think too much of it. Here, SDG&E is HATED. I mean hated on a level I have not frequently seen. Case in point - they raised everyone's gas rates on Jan 1 by 3.5X. People barely getting by, in the coldest and wettest month of the year here, were getting $500-700 gas bills. They have since backed down, and blamed it on "market forces", but they are greedy and have a monopoly.


So, some of it is life changes, expected higher power utilization (so that 16kw solar may not fully meet our needs). Some of it is simply seeing an opportunity to stick it to a company that I'm forced to continue to do business with (gov sponsored monopoly).

 

[SeminoleFSU]

Let's think about the reality here. How long will the battery last in Atlanta during the summer with the A/C running?

And let's think about the grid down, how long do you want to be prepared for?

And sure, you are smart enough to regulate the AC. But what happens if the power goes out at 1AM after you are asleep? There probably isn't anything to wake you up to tell you to turn the AC off. What if you are gone for a few days, how do you know power is off and how are you going to control the power?

I'm in Atlanta and those cases have happened to me. I didn't have to worry about them because I had a whole house natural gas generator with auto start.

I wouldn't run the AC in a grid down scenario. Just saying it can be done with soft start. I also have a 10k watt tri-fuel honda genset that can back feed a 50A breaker on an interlock

 

[MtBean_COCR]

If I were Tesla, I would also be resistant to making cars/trucks battery backup for homes, unless it was limited to emergencies only. First, making the vehicles "powerwalls" for the home, would eat into their powerwall sales. I don't know of any other car manufacturers who are doing this (Honda is likely a long way off for their generators). Also, using the car batteries to run your home on a daily basis (charging and discharging) would affect the lifetime of the battery, so how much would they need to reduce the warranty? (no idea how to solve this problem) They monitor your car, so maybe they'll allow (through a monitoring agreement) for you to use just for emergencies. But, that would also require that you have additional equipment including an Automatic Transfer Switch (ATS) to "island" your home in an outage so no power goes onto the grid (a major safety issue) as a minimum. I have had two PV systems w/powerwalls with two different utilities and both had to pass the test to disconnect from the grid when the power went out. If you go off grid, you don't have to worry about the utility, but you would still have the battery warranty/sales impact issues. I think LFP is better for home power anyway from a safety and battery life perspective, my 4 year old powerwall is in my garage separated from the house and up the hill for safety.

 

[WhiteOnWhiteMY]

This is fully confirmed now. Referred to as Tesla Powershare: https://www.tesla.com/powershare

 

[LowlyOilBurner]

I’d be interested in using CT as an emergency backup power supply for my home, but that’s it. Strictly for emergency use. Only to power 110v appliances (fridge, blower on gas furnace, some lights, that’s it. No AC or hot tub).

What do you need? A gateway and a universal wall connector by the looks of it? We don’t have solar, or powerwalls.

 

[dhrivnak]

I wouldn't run the AC in a grid down scenario. Just saying it can be done with soft start. I also have a 10k watt tri-fuel honda genset that can back feed a 50A breaker on an interlock

It depends a lot on your heat pump. I have an Amana high efficiency inverter driven HP that rarely uses more than 2000 watts. So my FranklinWH batteries (27kWh and 10kW power) can easily run the heat pump. Granted in the winter when solar can be scarce for a week at a time we will have to accept lower temperatures but 60F is much better than no heat.

 

[Cosmacelf]

I’d be interested in using CT as an emergency backup power supply for my home, but that’s it. Strictly for emergency use. Only to power 110v appliances (fridge, blower on gas furnace, some lights, that’s it. No AC or hot tub).

What do you need? A gateway and a universal wall connector by the looks of it? We don’t have solar, or powerwalls.

And a transfer switch such that you cut off grid access while you power the house via the UWC. Tesla hasn’t given us the details of how this works, but that’s the gist of it.

 

[davenlei]

Looking at the details on the Tesla website between the Tesla only (NACS) wall charger and the Tesla Universal (NACS/J1772) wall charger, am I correct in that only the Tesla Universal wall charger can perform the task of powering your house from your Cybertruck (or other modern Tesla's if they ever turn the capability on)?

 

[Cosmacelf]

Looking at the details on the Tesla website between the Tesla only (NACS) wall charger and the Tesla Universal (NACS/J1772) wall charger, am I correct in that only the Tesla Universal wall charger can perform the task of powering your house from your Cybertruck (or other modern Tesla's if they ever turn the capability on)?

It appears so.

 

[wwu123]

And a transfer switch such that you cut off grid access while you power the house via the UWC. Tesla hasn’t given us the details of how this works, but that’s the gist of it.

The Tesla Gateway that exists now already provides grid isolation and automatic transfer switch, and seems like current one supports Powershare, as folks with Powerwalls today will not need a different Gateway to use Powershare.

 

[davenlei]

The Tesla Gateway that exists now already provides grid isolation and automatic transfer switch, and seems like current one supports Powershare, as folks with Powerwalls today will not need a different Gateway to use Powershare.

Well that is nice because I plan to get a powerwall anyway maybe next year.

 

[ewoodrick]

Looking at the details on the Tesla website between the Tesla only (NACS) wall charger and the Tesla Universal (NACS/J1772) wall charger, am I correct in that only the Tesla Universal wall charger can perform the task of powering your house from your Cybertruck (or other modern Tesla's if they ever turn the capability on)?

If you power your house, you must have the ability to disconnect from the grid. You must have a transfer switch.

And if you aren't going to power your entire house, then you need to have a panel that breaks out the loads that you are going to power.

It's NEVER just a hook it up and it works scenario.

 

[bkp_duke]

If you power your house, you must have the ability to disconnect from the grid. You must have a transfer switch.

And if you aren't going to power your entire house, then you need to have a panel that breaks out the loads that you are going to power.

It's NEVER just a hook it up and it works scenario.

If you have an existing powerwall setup, it will be hook it up and works scenario. All the required logic is already in the PW gateway. Just need the proper wall charger.

 

[davenlei]

If you have an existing powerwall setup, it will be hook it up and works scenario. All the required logic is already in the PW gateway. Just need the proper wall charger.

Yes that is the plan. I was going to get solar with a Powerwall but with the proposed income based minimum fee electric rate changes in CA the legislature is pushing through, solar will be much less attractive unless you use a lot of power. If that passes then it makes more sense for an average home to not get solar and to just charge a Powerwall during Super Off Peak rates in the middle of the night and supplement your power use during peak rate times from the Powerwall or Powerwall/Cybertruck setup.

 

[bkp_duke]

Yes that is the plan. I was going to get solar with a Powerwall but with the proposed income based minimum fee electric rate changes in CA the legislature is pushing through, solar will be much less attractive unless you use a lot of power. If that passes then it makes more sense for an average home to not get solar and to just charge a Powerwall during Super Off Peak rates in the middle of the night and supplement your power use during peak rate times from the Powerwall or Powerwall/Cybertruck setup.

I've been looking at disconnecting from the grid. I have 16kw of solar and 4 x PW2, and have historical data from that for 4 years now. I'm 98% self-reliant. That 2%, that's tough.

My initial plan had been to install a NG generator to supplement the solar+PW system in those winter instances when we have 4-7 days of rain and I can't fill up the powerwalls.

However, now, I would likely go the route of a CT (or another Tesla vehicle with V2G if the push it out to other cars). A 123 kWh battery pack makes it so that I would simply never need a generator. And even if that got low, I could run down to the supercharger 2 miles away, fill it up, and come back with a week's worth of backup power.

 

[Cosmacelf]

I've been looking at disconnecting from the grid. I have 16kw of solar and 4 x PW2, and have historical data from that for 4 years now. I'm 98% self-reliant. That 2%, that's tough.

My initial plan had been to install a NG generator to supplement the solar+PW system in those winter instances when we have 4-7 days of rain and I can't fill up the powerwalls.

However, now, I would likely go the route of a CT (or another Tesla vehicle with V2G if the push it out to other cars). A 123 kWh battery pack makes it so that I would simply never need a generator. And even if that got low, I could run down to the supercharger 2 miles away, fill it up, and come back with a week's worth of backup power.

Sweet. Do let us know if you do this. I don't know many that have disconnected entirely, but I haven't really gone looking either.

 

[ThomasD]

How low can you run the Batteries down on the Cybertruck if using it as a backup system?

 

[davenlei]

I've been looking at disconnecting from the grid. I have 16kw of solar and 4 x PW2, and have historical data from that for 4 years now. I'm 98% self-reliant. That 2%, that's tough.

My initial plan had been to install a NG generator to supplement the solar+PW system in those winter instances when we have 4-7 days of rain and I can't fill up the powerwalls.

However, now, I would likely go the route of a CT (or another Tesla vehicle with V2G if the push it out to other cars). A 123 kWh battery pack makes it so that I would simply never need a generator. And even if that got low, I could run down to the supercharger 2 miles away, fill it up, and come back with a week's worth of backup power.

You should check the CA laws. If I recall right, the CA supermajority legislature made it illegal to disconnect from the grid a few years ago and every home must pay the minimum 'service fee' of which they are pushing through the change to make it income based.

 

[bkp_duke]

You should check the CA laws. If I recall right, the CA supermajority legislature made it illegal to disconnect from the grid a few years ago and every home must pay the minimum 'service fee' of which they are pushing through the change to make it income based.

I've done this research, this is actually a grey area of the law. But given where things are going, I expect some lawsuits in the future to test this out.

 

[davenlei]

I've done this research, this is actually a grey area of the law. But given where things are going, I expect some lawsuits in the future to test this out.

I agree there will be lawsuits of which the decision will be appealed regardless of who wins. The fact that it is there will impact how some people implement their energy utilization decisions while it is in question. I was seriously looking into solar and energy storage but with this in play, I will likely just do energy storage for now.