Why can't our Tesla cars be used as a large battery pack to power our home in case of a power outage

[SanDiegoGuy]

Since Tesla cars have large battery pack, why can't we use it to power our house in case of an emergency? I have a Model S 90D and all I see is a 12V port. I wish there are some type of adapter that goes into the charging port to output its energy to provide electrical power for external devices.

Is this even be possible?

 

[RoBoRaT]

Because they want you to buy Powerwalls.

It is already out there:

 

[Webeevdrivers]

Because they want you to buy Powerwalls.

It is already out there:

This is done in Japan using the Chademo port of a vehicle such as a leaf. I think it’s called something like Leaf to home. Not sure.

 

[zanary]

As long as there is free supercharging this won’t happen.

 

[Silicon Desert]

hmmmm, seems I have seen this question on here somewhere else in the past. Maybe try the search feature to see more opinions.
Somehow, I think that a $3K generator is better than a $100K car

 

[Webeevdrivers]

This is done in Japan using the Chademo port of a vehicle such as a leaf. I think it’s called something like Leaf to home. Not sure.

Correcting my earlier post. It’s called V2H or vehicle to home. You tube has tons of videos with folks who have made it work.

 

[miimura]

This is not really what the OP was asking for, but it does use an EV (would work with a hybrid too) to help keep your Powerwalls from running out of energy and shutting down.

Powerwall 2.0 Backup Runtime Extender

 

[SSedan]

Plus why would they warranty the car's pack for a purpose that is not being a car.

Is extra hardware needed to get 240/120 or could the existing onboard chargers do that?

If that worried about it a natural gas generator is an infinity better solution that could power your car so you aren't stranded at home with no power.

 

[ewoodrick]

There's actually some big technical requirements to do so. The inverter to go from 300VDC to 120/240VAC at whole house current is pretty expensive. And at full load, a battery really won't last that long, hours, not days.
As others mention, Nissan is trying it out in Japan.

The Tesla pickup is rumored to have 120V240V sockets designed for power tools as a contractor truck.

 

[reddy]

There's actually some big technical requirements to do so. The inverter to go from 300VDC to 120/240VAC at whole house current is pretty expensive. And at full load, a battery really won't last that long, hours, not days.

Since the average US home uses about 30 kWh per day, a 100kwh pack would last about 3 days.

I have Powerwalls already, but I’d love the flexibility to draw down my car energy when we get 2-3 cloudy days in a row and don’t produce enough juice.

 

[miimura]

Since the average US home uses about 30 kWh per day, a 100kwh pack would last about 3 days.

I have Powerwalls already, but I’d love the flexibility to draw down my car energy when we get 2-3 cloudy days in a row and don’t produce enough juice.

That is exactly what my Powerwall Runtime Extender setup is for. The downside is that you have to go through the 12V system and suffer its efficiency losses to get the energy out. The upside is that the parts are all off the shelf and inexpensive. However, I am more comfortable doing it on my RAV4 EV (which uses a DC-DC converter like a Classic Model S) than I am on the Model 3. The Model 3 is much more likely to notice the unusual draw from the 12V system.

 

[cybergates]

this kinda thing could be used in a mall or rental car yard or new car lot - just plug them all in and you have on demand batteries if needed or charge them with surplus energy. Buffer the grid.

 

[Jigglypuff]

Vehicle 2 Grid, or V2G, has been talked about for over a decade. There's all sorts of code, safety, and red tape requirements before it can happen. For instance, you'd need to install a switch to protect the lineman from getting fried by your car. You'd need a circuit big enough to handle all the load of your house coming from the car.

 

[RoBoRaT]

Vehicle 2 Grid, or V2G, has been talked about for over a decade. There's all sorts of code, safety, and red tape requirements before it can happen. For instance, you'd need to install a switch to protect the lineman from getting fried by your car. You'd need a circuit big enough to handle all the load of your house coming from the car.

The Backup Gateway should be able to direct traffic like its doing now with Solar/Grid power.

 

[SSedan]

The 30kw=3days from a 100 isn't going to work out, one because of battery size rounding up, then there is the fact you probably don't keep it at 100% hope not anyway, then you have conversion losses, vampire drain................
Generator would be a much better idea.

 

[Jigglypuff]

The Backup Gateway should be able to direct traffic like its doing now with Solar/Grid power.

The engineering problem in any single situation is probably much more complex than you think, but the engineering problem on a mass production/installation scale plus the code and safety issues are much, much, much more complex than you think. Have you ever tried to do an addition on your home?

 

[TMThree]

you sort of can with the new truck:

"...Musk noted that the Tesla pickup would have six seats, 400-500 miles of range per charge, dual motor AWD, a 240-volt connection for heavy-duty tools, ..."

 

[RoBoRaT]

The engineering problem in any single situation is probably much more complex than you think, but the engineering problem on a mass production/installation scale plus the code and safety issues are much, much, much more complex than you think. Have you ever tried to do an addition on your home?

Sure its more complex. I am not an engineer so I do not assume that its that easy.

I am suggesting though that a device, like the Backup Gateway, can be used to direct electricity from EV batteries.

 

[animorph]

A semi-large inverter could be hooked up directly to the 12V battery. There's a few threads here about that. I'm not sure if anyone reported a success with it, but it should be quite possible at a reasonable cost.

Actually hooking up to the house electrical system would take a bunch of other equipment, like solar systems use. You need to isolate your house from the grid (you can't power every house in the city), probably isolate a few circuits within the house that you can fully power with your power source, and whatever you need to hook up the car, including a big inverter.

 

[Jigglypuff]

If you burnt your house down because you had your car hooked up to power the home, I think you'd be SOL on insurance. Electrical code is a slow moving beast and for good reason. Many lives have been saved through good electrical design, and that's why you can't have V2G right now.