Six hours in a traffic jam...

[Daniel Brown]

I was stuck in traffic on the A1 the other day. The only thing that went down was my patience

 

[Rolfe]

My Nissan Leaf 30kWh could maybe drain 1-2% on a 40-minute ferry with heater and music on so it has to be a long traffic jam to drain an EV battery.

Bjørn Nyland (Teslabjørn) spent the night in a 2021 Model 3 in "camping mode" at -20c. He drained 20% during the night while keeping the temperature inside the car at 19-20c and watching Youtube on his car monitor.

Started at 87%, and ended at 67% (8:51)

That's amazing. If I ever see that urban legend online I'll link to that clip.

 

[WonkoTheSaneUK]

an EV with a dead battery is a great deal more difficult to deal with

This is why the breakdown services have started installing 3kW inverters in their vans, to give you at least enough of a granny charge to get you to a rapid.

 

[Rolfe]

That would seem to be the obvious solution, though I wonder how long it takes to get enough charge in to be useful.

I read that there was a device in development that was a portable battery weighing about 9kg which could give the car enough charge for about 30 miles. Sounds like a useful thing to have on you for long trips, but I don't know when it will be available, or even if.

 

[Torryhun]

That would seem to be the obvious solution, though I wonder how long it takes to get enough charge in to be useful.

The break down guy will know how far (as will your chosen change app) to nearest charger, and load appropriately.

 

[WonkoTheSaneUK]

That would seem to be the obvious solution, though I wonder how long it takes to get enough charge in to be useful.

I read that there was a device in development that was a portable battery weighing about 9kg which could give the car enough charge for about 30 miles. Sounds like a useful thing to have on you for long trips, but I don't know when it will be available, or even if.

It would be better for the breakdown van to have that, instead of you dragging it around everywhere like a spare can of petrol.

 

[Rolfe]

It would, yes. Although I was thinking that it might be something you could choose to carry if you were going on a journey that might be a bit risky charge-wise.

It's still cloud-cuckoo land though.

I was watching Bjorn's video and it made me shiver just looking at it. It was noteworthy the amount of insulation he had on that car - all the windows covered with reflective insulating material and other things inside too. But these were really extreme conditions and he was planning to be there all night. If the car performed that well at such low temperatures, getting stuck for a few hours in more normal temperatures even without special preparations should be a piece of cake. He was taking power from the car to boil a kettle and all sorts.

It really does look as if an EV is actually better at handling a long period of being stationary while keeping its occupants warm and comfortable than an ICE vehicle would be.

I remember once, ages ago, I was at an equestrian event in Wales on a truly horrible day in summer. It was cold and it was wet and we just had to hang around waiting for the people on the horses to get back to the base. I decided I didn't care and simply sat in the car with the engine running to keep warm. It worked, but I was watching the needle on the petrol gauge creeping down all the time and I think I may have used as much as half a tank that day simply to keep warm.

How much more efficient just to take power from an EV battery without having to run an engine.

An EV can run for days without moving, especially if AC and lights are off. They can run the average house for up to a week.

This interests me. Is it actually possible to connect a domestic electricity supply so that it will run off an EV's battery in an emergency?

I have backup for my oil-fired central heating and hot water going off, but that's in the form of electric heaters. If the electricity goes off here I am screwed, and my only recourse would be to go to a neighbour's house where they have a wood-burning stove and hope that the power comes back on before my freezer defrosts. I have occasionally thought about getting a petrol or diesel-burning generator, but never took it any further.

The idea that my car might be able to power my house for a day or so, including the electrical functions necessary to turn that tank of kerosene in the garden into heat, is quite attractive. Is this something that's actually being done? Are there any articles describing it?

 

[Diggsy]

Your car does Vehicle to Load (V2L), for which you can buy the specific MG adapter, or a cheaper, 3rd party alternative. It works more like an extension lead though - you can plug an item or two into the car and power them from it.

I’m sure someone on here has done further testing I think too - just search V2L on this forum and you should find some posts.

Edit - one such post is here…

Some MG4 Upgrades

I’ve been adding some upgrades to my MG4 and have posted some YouTube videos that may help anyone looking to add some extras. So far I’ve added mud flaps, hydraulic bonnet struts, mats, test of the vehicle to load. And now have all the kit together to upgrade the speakers and waiting for a boot...

www.mgevs.com

 

[Rolfe]

Yes, I knew about that, but that isn't going to start the central heating! Something to think about though.

 

[siteguru]

The MG4 is not designed to be connected to a house - you can't just connect it up (during a power cut for example) and run your house from the car; that way leads towards the possibility of power network personnel getting electrocuted when working on the power network. @Ayoull can (and has) explained the risks in far more detail and with far more clarity than I can express.

 

[Rolfe]

Thanks for that. It was a nice idea!

 

[Diggsy]

Thanks for that. It was a nice idea!

You could still plug in some things to keep warm etc during a power cut, you just couldn’t replace your entire power source with it

 

[Jef]

Rolfe, your oil fired boiler will only be using a very small amount of electricity to initially ignite the oil and then to drive the water circulation pump when the house thermostat calls for heat. I have a (possibly) simpler system using a propane powered gas combi boiler which gets it's electricity from a 13 amp socket, again very low power requirement around 150 watts.
My solution would be an extension cable from the car to power boiler and fridge freezer, total energy requirement less than 500 watts.

Jef, sunny Colchester. MG4 SE SR smurf blue.

 

[Rolfe]

You could still plug in some things to keep warm etc during a power cut, you just couldn’t replace your entire power source with it

Yeah, but I think the wood-burning stove in the next street still wins! I'm interested in something that will allow the central heating to run and stop the food from defrosting. A generator seems the only answer.

Rolfe, your oil fired boiler will only be using a very small amount of electricity to initially ignite the oil and then to drive the water circulation pump when the house thermostat calls for heat. I have a (possibly) simpler system using a propane powered gas combi boiler which gets it's electricity from a 13 amp socket, again very low power requirement around 150 watts.
My solution would be an extension cable from the car to power boiler and fridge freezer, total energy requirement less than 500 watts.

Jef, sunny Colchester. MG4 SE SR smurf blue.

I wonder if that would work? I have a friend who is a retired electrician, I might bounce the idea off him.

 

[siteguru]

As long as you're plugging discrete items (that have their own 3-pin plugs) into an extension from the car's V2L adapter, then all should be OK - there shouldn't be any earth loop (which is the safety issue). The problem comes when you tie the car to the domestic earth system.

 

[Rolfe]

It's an interesting intellectual exercise, anyway. The freezer has its own 3-pin plug. I have no idea where the central heating boiler gets its electricity from!

 

[Diggsy]

It's an interesting intellectual exercise, anyway. The freezer has its own 3-pin plug. I have no idea where the central heating boiler gets its electricity from!

Probably from a fused spur - as in its wired directly into a fused switch on the wall.

 

[Rolfe]

I think that's the case.

 

[Collected]

The MG4 is not designed to be connected to a house - you can't just connect it up (during a power cut for example) and run your house from the car; that way leads towards the possibility of power network personnel getting electrocuted when working on the power network. @Ayoull can (and has) explained the risks in far more detail and with far more clarity than I can express.

I think Vitron home battery solutions can have a set up where you essentially disconnect from the grid, plug your car v2l into the battery inverter and then run your house from your car via that.

 

[aitch]

As does a Tesla power wall. Essentially power comes in through main fuse then to V2G inverter then to the consumer unit. Will shut down export in the event of a power cut but keep house running.