[aftbit]

Hardware store backup generator => $500 - $2000

vs

EV => $8000 - $40000

Bidirectional charging infra => $2000 - $5000

PV => $5000 - $15000

Heat pump => $5000 - $10000

That's an awful lot of money that you're proposing people spend in order to cover a rare occurrence. Of course there's day-to-day value in having all of that which a backup generator cannot provide, but in a power outage, you'd probably rather just have the cheap gas generator, and maybe a $1000-ish "solar generator" (i.e. battery pack with inverter) that you can use to load-shift the generator. Run the genny during the day to charge the battery; run the fridge, lights, and phone charger from the battery overnight.

[therealdrag0]

There is no additional infrastructure for plugging a vehicle like Hyundai that supports V2L into a generator socket. Except a 20$ adaptor. You only get 15A from it but that’s enough to run key functions for 5 days silently and exhaust free.

[loeg]

V2L is very different from V2H, but sure, you could charge your laptop and phone or whatever.

[therealdrag0]

You can run your fridge and freezer, you can run your (gas) furnace, and your lights. That’s most people’s core requirements, and a typical car battery can do this for 5 days. I’ve also heard of people watching tv on it.

[josuepeq]

Yep, ran my refrigerator, my router and my modem with an inverter on my Chevrolet Bolt EV after blackouts from a large windstorm in California knocked power out for a few days.

The trick with Bolt EVs is that one must have the car on, because the high voltage battery will not engage when the car is off for safety reasons. Also, the car shuts off every hour of unless the seatbelt is fastened. This is not a big deal.

[loeg]

With a forest of extension cables? Or are you talking about powerizing the existing sockets (V2H)?

[therealdrag0]

Since the comparison was between a generator, I left out the generator inlet you need. But that’s like <1k$ install. The car replaces the generator but the inlet is needed to breaker box either way.

Here’s video summary https://youtu.be/ZmmhOXsIRjw?si=eZh_MCWJjhrwNpm9

[loeg]

Cool!

[fragmede]

and TV these days often means laptop anyway.