Seeking recommendation for a plug-in car to power a house

[Todd's keyboard]

My wife and I just spent a very relaxing week at out house on one of the smaller islands off of Vancouver Island. This is going to make a great retirement house for us.

An ongoing concern is power outages. Wind causes trees to down power lines. It may sometimes take several days for crews to get the electricity flowing again.

A solution for many of our neighbours (Canadian spelling) is to use a generator.

We have also talked about making our next car a Prius (or similar) and plugging the car into the house as a power source when needed. The house is already pre-wired to charge a car on either 110 or 240. It is also wired so just a few of the circuits can be run off of a generator (refrigerator, a few lights, water pump).

Any thoughts and experience with using a car as a temporary generator to run a house? Recommendations on which models to consider?

My wife's car is a Mazda 3. I donated my Toyota pickup to the local food bank when I emigrated to Canada. Was happily living car-free until I inherited my father-in-law's Toyota Yaris. My wife now prefers to drive the Yaris in Vancouver traffic over her Mazda. Don't think we will need a bigger car.

thanks, Todd's keyboard

[Lew Zealand]

Todd's keyboard wrote: …My wife now prefers to drive the Yaris in Vancouver traffic over her Mazda…

Sorry, I just can't get past this bit. I have to assume the Mazda is a stick shift because that, in bad traffic, is the only way I could see a Yaris besting a Mazda 3.

[C(-)ris]

I think you would be better off with a Power Cell and some solar. I'm not sure you would want a car engine running to power a house for days at a time.

[Todd's keyboard]

Lew Zealand wrote:
[quote=Todd's keyboard]…My wife now prefers to drive the Yaris in Vancouver traffic over her Mazda…

Sorry, I just can't get past this bit. I have to assume the Mazda is a stick shift because that, in bad traffic, is the only way I could see a Yaris besting a Mazda 3.
Yeah, it does seem a bit odd. I think a big factor is the Yaris is parked on the street. The Mazda lives in a garage. It's a lot easier to just get in the Yaris and drive away, rather than:
1) open the garbage door
2) back out the Mazda
3) close the garage door
4) drive away.

Of course, this must be repeated in reverse when returning home. Imagine this in the rain.

However, even on long trips she suggests the Yaris over the Mazda. It's a lot easier to parallel park.

To be honest, I prefer the Yaris over the Mazda, as well. In my case it's the combination of being more nimble in traffic, and I can plug in an iPod to listen to podcasts and audiobooks. The Mazda requires an FM tuner attached to the iPod.

My largest complaint is the road noise from the Yaris. I've researched aftermarket soundproofing. Haven't been able to justify the cost.

[graylocks]

there are posts on Volt forums about people doing this.

[Todd's keyboard]

C(-)ris wrote:
I think you would be better off with a Power Cell and some solar. I'm not sure you would want a car engine running to power a house for days at a time.

Good points. I'm imagining that the car would only run for relatively short bursts. For example, when need to run the water pump. I also imagine we would not run a generator full time. Only when needed.

The house will stay comfortable warm, even in the winter. Lots of insulation plus a propane fireplace will take care of that.

Did some research on Tesla's solutions. It looks like they will cost twice as much in Canada as they will be in the US. One solution may be to import them.

As for solar, did I mention the trees that fall down in the wind? Am open to the idea of all sorts of sources for electricity. If I could figure out a way to install mini-generators in the downspouts of the rain gutters, I'd do it.

[space-time]

https://www.tesla.com/powerwall

EDIT: the link is NOT for a car, but for a Tesla Powerwall.

[Filliam H. Muffman]

What's your minimum daily kWh use estimate during a power outage? A Tesla Powerwall without solar panels to charge it will only last two days for most houses.

Most of the cars that could supply 110V during an outage have forums with posts from users on how well it works.

If the roads stay clear, you might be able to recharge a Tesla car at a supercharger and then drive it home and power the house for a day.

[Speedy]

graylocks wrote:
there are posts on Volt forums about people doing this.

Yes.

[GGD]

I've always found the approach described in this posting to be an interesting approach to short term emergency power from a Prius using an inverter. The PDF that the author attached is very well written.

https://priuschat.com/threads/prius-as-b...wer.33073/

And some other similar approaches.

http://hiwaay.net/~bzwilson/prius/priups.html

And more elaborate approaches tapping into the Prius high voltage battery.

http://priusgen.sandbox.org/
http://www.priups.com/