[RE Farmer]

Has anyone looked at adding an outlet to use the EV battery pack as a backup power source for their house during a grid power outage. (Something that happens quite often in my rural area.)

Is it possible to supply power out through the charging port?

Since I'm installing an AC motor, can the controller supply ac power to the house?

I suspect these things can't be done directly, but the pack could power an inverter for the house.

 

[dtbaker]

Absolutely can be done..... you'd need to 'disconnect' from the grid first, otherwise your EV would try to power the whole neighborhood. Then you'd need a big fat inverter set up for your DC voltage-> 120vAC or 220vAC and anticipated power use. Unless your car on-board happens to be 120VAC or 220VAC, you'd probably want a wall-mount inverter in the garage with cables to your main battery pack ... with a manual disconnect between batteries and inverter. The inverter out to nearest subpanel.

You'd probably be best feeding into the main 220vAC line.... feeding thru a 120vAC circuit the house would be likely to pull too many amps if several things came on a once.

A big inverter (like one from a PV system) can be pretty expensive.... couple grand-ish

 

[RE Farmer]

I am planning to install 25-150kW of PV, but that is still in the engineering stage. I already have 1kW of wind, but no storage yet. Since I only go to town once or twice a week, my vehicle sits idle most of the time. Therefore I was looking for a way to get more use from the $6K I invested in the pack.

Further, I was considering making a small trailer-borne "range-extender" pack to get me to K.C. and back which would serve double duty as the storage for the PV/Wind system.

 

[dtbaker]

I am planning to install 25-150kW of PV,

wow, thats a lot of PV! I have 5kW (24 panels, fixed mount) that generate about 30kWhr on a sunny day. I am grid-tied, so don't have to worry about storage, but have considered setting up to isolate and use the car in emergencies. Its just a little lower on the list than other projects....

 

[RE Farmer]

The plan is to be a distributed power producer - hence my handle R(enewable)E(nergy) Farmer. I'm looking to converting some of my poorer farm acreage from feed crops to energy "crops".

We often get power outages from animals, chewing on wires, wind and ice storms. There isn't any local generation and the local CO-OP relies on power from 100's of miles away.

Just another way of being a locavore - producing my power locally and sharing it with my neighbors. No expensive grid needed.

 

[dtbaker]

The plan is to be a distributed power producer - hence my handle R(enewable)E(nergy) Farmer. I'm looking to converting some of my poorer farm acreage from feed crops to energy "crops".

that is SUPER. Does your local utility pay out REC on gross production? The Fed/State tax credit on top of using rapid depreciation for business expenses and energy production might make this a GREAT 'crop'.

If you decide on ground-mount trackers.... paint the stems green, add some 'leaves', and the back of the panels bright yellow! It would look just like giant SunFlowers!

 

[RE Farmer]

Unfortunately, no state credits - just federal.

Still working out the details on who gets the RECs. Additionally, I'm trying to figure out how to work carbon credits into the mix. Its going to take all these things to make it economically viable. I getting close, but herding all these ducks into a line is harder than herding cats.