[jake remins]

After discussing this survey on our Facebook Owners page, it was suggested that I post the survey link here too. So ...

Below is a link to a survey allowing you to influence the capability, on our next EV, to send power out (being a factory option, if used as intended, it would not adversely impact the warranty).

Our battery stores a lot of power - that we currently can't get out in an emergency. But, we could. We could power devices in our home, or out of our home, when the electricity is out: hurricane, blizzard, blackout, camping.

We will forward the anonymous responses, should we get sufficient responses, to the right people at the factory.

svpus.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9B7TyWEsS2Xg5W5?source=web

 

[Barry]

One way to check if a url is safe is to scan it with a tool like this one:
http://www.urlvoid.com/

I scanned the link above and it came out OK. (But don't take my word for it.)

 

[Mister Dave]

Some things are better handled aftermarket.

http://www.evextend.com/

 

[freshcut]

Some things are better handled aftermarket.

http://www.evextend.com/

No disagreement there since aftermarket is generally superior, but the idea of a factory installed option is appealing in that if anything were to ever go wrong you are fully covered under warranty. It would be nice if the factory option were robust enough to handle sufficient draw to operate basics such as a refrigerator for emergency use. Of course having 120V plugs inside the car would allow someone to be able to power a laptop or other small device to keep those in the back seat occupied without having to rely exclusively on battery power, and having the ability to keep things charged on the go.

 

[canehdian]

Some things are better handled aftermarket.

http://www.evextend.com/

While this is good for basic use, in theory, a solution connected to the vehicle's main drive inverter or OBCM could provide much more energy (potentially power your entire house) by tapping an AC transformer off of that to generate 120/240V.
12V addons can't even provide a full [email protected] circuit.

 

[Mister Dave]

While this is good for basic use, in theory, a solution connected to the vehicle's main drive inverter or OBCM could provide much more energy (potentially power your entire house) by tapping an AC transformer off of that to generate 120/240V.
12V addons can't even provide a full [email protected] circuit.

You can sip or you can gulp. If you need to gulp a stand-by generator might be better. (DOH! I started it gain!)

 

[Mister Dave]

After further consideration, I'd rather have a spare tire. Since we're not so concerned with CAFE standards we can get them back maybe?

Power seats?

 

[jake remins]

Thank-you, all, for your thoughts.

Over on the Facebook Owner page, we have been discussing the capability to send 1500W to 9000W power out. So, more than just running phones and such in the back seat. More like in an emergency (hurricane, blizzard, blackout, etc.), getting power to run our router, fridge, microwave, and/or a dedicated circuit.

An executive at GM suggested we collect some anecdotal evidence that there is some level of demand for this - and then forward it to them. If there seems to be sufficient demand, they would study it further.

 

[jake remins]

Spot on, canehdian. This idea would use the vehicle's main drive inverter or OBCM to send 1500W to 9000W (peak) power out.

 

[jake remins]

Right, freshcut. A factory option would not impact the warranty. That is the game changer.

 

[Arcanox]

I think this would be an excellent idea that would really set Voltec vehicles apart from the rest of the market. A dedicated generator runs all the time, using fuel even if no power is being drawn. A Volt has 14.5 kWh of power storage, 4.5 kWh more than a PowerWall. The generator only runs when it needs to, storing excess power in the battery. I can see this being especially appealing for people near the coast that get a lot of tropical storms and frequent extended loss of power.

 

[hellsop]

Thank-you, all, for your thoughts.

Over on the Facebook Owner page, we have been discussing the capability to send 1500W to 9000W power out. So, more than just running phones and such in the back seat. More like in an emergency (hurricane, blizzard, blackout, etc.), getting power to run our router, fridge, microwave, and/or a dedicated circuit.

An executive at GM suggested we collect some anecdotal evidence that there is some level of demand for this - and then forward it to them. If there seems to be sufficient demand, they would study it further.

For just the battery? Eh. That's only 4-5 hours of moderate household use. If it allows the generator to kick on then it's interesting.

However.

There's complication as to what to do with the output. Can't just plug it into a wall and make that circuit active. You'd also need a proper isolation and transfer switch, planning and wiring to which house circuits are going to get wired to, a cabling system to bridge the car to the transfer switch, a place to RUN the including provisions for exhaust, and if your risk is outages due to storms, then you'll probably want to make sure the car is adequately protected from that storm as well, including the output cabling system. That's all stuff that can be overcome but it makes installing a 240 line for a Level 2 evse seem trivial and cheap in comparison. I'd guess about five grant minimum for the house side of things and the car side would probably be a $1-2k option, based on CCS charging being worth $750....

 

[Arcanox]

For just the battery? Eh. That's only 4-5 hours of moderate household use. If it allows the generator to kick on then it's interesting.

However.

There's complication as to what to do with the output. Can't just plug it into a wall and make that circuit active. You'd also need a proper isolation and transfer switch, planning and wiring to which house circuits are going to get wired to, a cabling system to bridge the car to the transfer switch, a place to RUN the including provisions for exhaust, and if your risk is outages due to storms, then you'll probably want to make sure the car is adequately protected from that storm as well, including the output cabling system. That's all stuff that can be overcome but it makes installing a 240 line for a Level 2 evse seem trivial and cheap in comparison. I'd guess about five grant minimum for the house side of things and the car side would probably be a $1-2k option, based on CCS charging being worth $750....

I was assuming there would just be a couple of NEMA 5-15s somewhere on the car, capable of the full 15A rating. An adapter or attachment or something to attach to a proper generator isolation/transfer setup would be very neat for those who need it, but just providing high-current 120V power coming straight from a car would be a huge selling point. Most integrated 120V plugs in cars can't provide anywhere near 15A because they run off the alternator, not a high voltage battery.

 

[Mister Dave]

.......a DC-to-AC inverter is not a cheap component to engineer or integrate into a car’s limited real estate.

The Definitive List of New Cars With AC Outlets

Still lobbying for power seats here. Pretty sure they've engineered a few by now and can find space for it. Which leads to the question: If you can't get power seats as an option, what makes you think they'd seriously consider this?

 

[hellsop]

I was assuming there would just be a couple of NEMA 5-15s somewhere on the car, capable of the full 15A rating. An adapter or attachment or something to attach to a proper generator isolation/transfer setup would be very neat for those who need it, but just providing high-current 120V power coming straight from a car would be a huge selling point. Most integrated 120V plugs in cars can't provide anywhere near 15A because they run off the alternator, not a high voltage battery.

That's easy to do, but it won't power half your house through a storm-caused outage. It might keep your ice cream from melting, if you can pull your fridge away from the wall far enough to get an extension cord back there. And the outage doesn't last longer than 8-12 hours. As it is, you're replacing the capacity of a $300 jobsite generator. I can tell you exactly what that's worth. $300.

 

[freshcut]

The Definitive List of New Cars With AC Outlets

Still lobbying for power seats here. Pretty sure they've engineered a few by now and can find space for it. Which leads to the question: If you can't get power seats as an option, what makes you think they'd seriously consider this?

I honestly don't get what the big deal is with power seats. Once my seat is adjusted, that's where it stays since I'm the only driver. I can see if two people share a car then perhaps power seats with a memory function could be nice, but otherwise it's not as if the seat gets moved frequently. Perhaps the need for fine adjustment that can't be done with a mechanical seat but other than that I just don't see much benefit in needing them personally.

One thing that could be nice would be side cameras embedded into the rear bumper so one can see cross traffic while backing out of a parking space. Have them display on a split screen. That said though, I think the rear camera does a pretty good job with it's wide angle lens that it might not be necessary for such a feature.

 

[Mister Dave]

I honestly don't get what the big deal is with power seats. Once my seat is adjusted, that's where it stays since I'm the only driver. I can see if two people share a car then perhaps power seats with a memory function could be nice, but otherwise it's not as if the seat gets moved frequently

2 people drive many cars. Else you'd not know what a seat memory function is.

The point is....... that's not even an option. Why do you suppose that is?

 

[flyingsherpa]

I honestly don't get what the big deal is with power seats. Once my seat is adjusted, that's where it stays since I'm the only driver. I can see if two people share a car then perhaps power seats with a memory function could be nice, but otherwise it's not as if the seat gets moved frequently. Perhaps the need for fine adjustment that can't be done with a mechanical seat but other than that I just don't see much benefit in needing them personally.

One thing that could be nice would be side cameras embedded into the rear bumper so one can see cross traffic while backing out of a parking space. Have them display on a split screen. That said though, I think the rear camera does a pretty good job with it's wide angle lens that it might not be necessary for such a feature.

Power seats are nice on a long trip, especially since they generally allow more degrees-of-freedom. My old car had 10-way seats or whatever, and it was nice to adjust seat tilt on a long drive. Manual seats usually don't have tilt (or lumbar).

FYI, I've seen cameras that can do rear side-view that are mounted in the same place as a normal backup cam. I can't recall if they were dual fish-eye or whatever, but I was shocked at how well they worked because they certainly didn't look like they'd be able to see that kind of view from there. I think this was aftermarket, though.