Portable Charging

[JeffK]

From the replies thus far it appears that nobody who currently owns a Tesla has attempted to charge their car with a portable generator. BTW...the last car I would ever own is a Volt. I'm not asking this question to derive a permanent everyday solution to charging my future Model 3, but instead of a possible rare case where I know I am going to be going somewhere where I know there is no charger.

Portable generators don't generate enough power to charge electric cars.

Anywhere there's going to be gas, there's going to be electricity. Also the more people that have electric cars the more people are going to have EVSEs installed at their homes to deliver decent charging rates. The next 10 years is going to be huge for electric cars.

In the not too distant future there will be no typical destination in the country that you could go without somewhere to charge. The places that are exceptions wouldn't have gas either, so you'd have been stranded there anyway.

More than half of the US National Parks also have EV charging as of last year.

 

[Saghost]

Portable generators don't generate enough power to charge electric cars.

Beg to differ:

Portable generators are usually a pretty slow method of charging, always inefficient, and generally one of the most costly approaches, but they certainly do work If set up correctly - even small 2000W units apparently.

 

[182RG]

but instead of a possible rare case where I know I am going to be going somewhere where I know there is no charger.

Hertz, Enterprise, Avis.

 

[JeffK]

Beg to differ:

Portable generators are usually a pretty slow method of charging, always inefficient, and generally one of the most costly approaches, but they certainly do work If set up correctly - even small 2000W units apparently.

You can technically charge the car with a solar panel too..

You have to read the description.

Since the EU-2000i generator uses a "floating neutral," the Model S charger will not work with this generator if connected normally.

You have to short the neutral and ground on the generator.

In addition, the generator only holds 0.95 gal and can only supply 13.5 miles in possibly 4.5 hours according to the video poster. If you needed this typically you'd be in the middle of nowhere. You'd need to carry several gallons of gas in addition to your generator at all times. Plus you'd have to carry around something to do for a few days as you sit on the side of the road.

Example: let's say you only need 100 miles. (100 mi / 13.5 mpg) * 4.5 hours/gal = 1.4 days and you'd need 7.4 gallons of gas with you according to the video poster's math. It's simply not practical.

It's faster to call a tow truck.

 

[Saghost]

You can technically charge the car with a solar panel too..

You have to read the description.


You have to short the neutral and ground on the generator.

In addition, the generator only holds 0.95 gal and can only supply 13.5 miles in possibly 4.5 hours according to the video poster. If you needed this typically you'd be in the middle of nowhere. You'd need to carry several gallons of gas in addition to your generator at all times. Plus you'd have to carry around something to do for a few days as you sit on the side of the road.

Example: let's say you only need 100 miles. (100 mi / 13.5 mpg) * 4.5 hours/gal = 1.4 days and you'd need 7.4 gallons of gas with you according to the video poster's math. It's simply not practical.

It's faster to call a tow truck.

The neural/ground discussion is a normal part of working with a generator - if you're working away from buildings you need that, but if you're tied to a building connecting them creates a risk of ground loop current. Many generators have an explicit plug to connect/disconnect for this purpose. I almost made a comment about that on my first reply.

For the rest, you're right. As I've said all along, it's a pretty bad solution from cost, efficiency, and time perspectives - but it will work.

 

[JeffK]

As I've said all along, it's a pretty bad solution from cost, efficiency, and time perspectives - but it will work.

It will work, but for all intents and purposes it won't work because it's impractical. Like a bicycle generator.

 

[Saghost]

It will work, but for all intents and purposes it won't work because it's impractical. Like a bicycle generator.

Not quite sure where you thought you were going with this tangent. A lot of mid and upper tier commuter bikes feature a generator dynamo to run the lights.

For many intents and purposes it is a poor choice, but both "impractical" and "for all intents and purposes" are too extreme.

Nothing prevents doing daily charging by a generator, and nothing in the systems would be harmed by doing so.

There aren't many scenarios where it seems like a sensible use of time, money, and fuel, but they do exist.

 

[JeffK]

Not quite sure where you thought you were going with this tangent. A lot of mid and upper tier commuter bikes feature a generator dynamo to run the lights.

Bicycle generator to power an EV was where I was going.

 

[swaltner]

Bicycle generator to power an EV was where I was going.

You just need an endless supply of olympic cyclists with tree trunks for legs and you can recharge that P100D in 6 short days!

 

[ElectricTundra]

It will work, but for all intents and purposes it won't work because it's impractical. Like a bicycle generator.

Probably around 80% of bicycles outside of the U.S. and around 90% in Europe have generators (Dynamo's) for powering lights and more recently for charging phones. Some the bottle type that runs along a tyre and some built in to the front hub. These are also becoming increasingly popular in the U.S. with people who ride a bicycle for daily transportation.

Here's a good overview: City Bikes | LocalMile

We have dynamo light systems on our city bikes that we ride for all of our local trips. They're always on the bikes, always work, never need to be charged, never need new batteries. No worries about finishing dinner after sunset and then realizing we'd not brought with us or charged battery lights.

 

[dhrivnak]

A Honda 2000/1600 watt generator only weighs 46 pounds. You could keep that in the frunk as insurance. You can connect two of them and then you would have 3200 watts of portable/light/reliable charging.

I don't see this as a great option....but in the right scenario it could function well enough. You could just leave one in the car for range anxiety relief, or two for a practical charging option.

1600 watts is basically a 110v plug. Surely you can find an outlet to plug into. This also highlights the issue with generators you need a big one to be useful. Even a 7000w widely is 21 miles of range in an hour. A campground (NEMA 14-50) will give about 10,000 watts or about 35 miles per hour.

 

[JeffK]

Probably around 80% of bicycles outside of the U.S. and around 90% in Europe have generators (Dynamo's) for powering lights and more recently for charging phones. Some the bottle type that runs along a tyre and some built in to the front hub. These are also becoming increasingly popular in the U.S. with people who ride a bicycle for daily transportation.

Here's a good overview: City Bikes | LocalMile

We have dynamo light systems on our city bikes that we ride for all of our local trips. They're always on the bikes, always work, never need to be charged, never need new batteries. No worries about finishing dinner after sunset and then realizing we'd not brought with us or charged battery lights.

I'm not sure how those charge EVs...? But powering small devices, sure. Point was, using a small solar panel, small portable gas powered generator, or a bicycle generator are all impractical devices for powering an EV.

 

[gregd]

I find that painting a picture can be more effective than spitting out numbers. Consider that a portable generator has about as much power as a walk-behind self-propelled lawn mower. Now picture trying to tow your 5,000 lb sedan with said lawn mower...

 

[jackbowers]

I once drive my Roadster to Whitefish on a route with no EV chargers east of Coeur d' Alene, ID (this was before the Model S came out). It was not hard to get around by charging from 14-50 outlets at RV parks.

 

[jomo25]

RV parks FTW. I’d imagine they are plentiful up in Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, etc...

I drove to Rocky Point in Mexico and charged at the Reef RV park (before they got a destination charger at one of the resorts). I’ve plugged into some risky sockets in my lifetime. But it worked

 

[Speedy50]

I have a 13KW Genrac that puts out 42 amps at 240 V that I use to power my house during power outages. Any reason not to use it to charge my Model 3?

 

[Daniel in SD]

I have a 13KW Genrac that puts out 42 amps at 240 V that I use to power my house during power outages. Any reason not to use it to charge my Model 3?

No reason you couldn't use it. With the Model 3's range you might as well just wait for the power to come back on though.

 

[eprosenx]

I think the Tesla manual says not to plug the Tesla into a generator.

Though from a practical standpoint, the chargers are just rectifiers... I see no reason that would not work even on a somewhat crappy generator. It is just a power supply that converts AC to DC in the car...

As others have said - really impractical. I would only do it in a real pinch (like I ran my car flat dead somewhere and it was my only option). Maybe I only need 10 miles of range to make it to a grid outlet.

Incidentally, I built a plug for my Honda EU2000i that has neutral and ground shorted together. I can plug it into one outlet on the duplex receptacle to interconnect neutral and ground, and then plug other things into the other outlet that require neutral and ground to be bonded. I have not tested it, but I am sure this would work for my car.

Tesla's are great for load banking generators. ;-) 1a granular increments!

 

[Speedy50]

No reason you couldn't use it. With the Model 3's range you might as well just wait for the power to come back on though.

Waiting would be my first choice also. Many years ago after Hurricane Andrew we were without power for 2 weeks. Just making contingent plans. Thanks.

 

[ratsbew]

haha, this is a Photoshop that I made years ago! Glad to see it's still around!