[MtnBiker]

Does anyone know if a Rivian or electric vehicle can be used to power a house or the essentials during a natural disaster or when the power grid goes down? And if so, how far could you drain the battery before you case damage?

 

[Harvest]

This is a question I'd like to know the answer to as well. It does seem more and more electric vehicles are offering vehicle to grid power or the equivalent. To me that makes it more worthwhile to buy an electric vehicle, to have that capability.

 

[lefkonj]

I don't believe anyone has released an EV that allows for it to output its power. Hyundai announced this as a way to charge another car but it isn't available yet.

 

[Jawsinc]

This can be the solution.
I know there is another available..... Not in the USA at the moment.

EV Charger, Solar Inverter & Energy Management - dcbel

Power your life with the world’s only home EV supercharger, complete with blackout power and solar charging all rolled into one. Reserve your dcbel now.

dcbel.ossiaco.com

 

[Harvest]

There is also the Wallbox device, expected to retail for about $4000, that can provide bi-directional charging that would allow an electric vehicle to power a house. Not sure if Rivian would need to do something specific to accommodate that or if it would work regardless. Still, it would be nice if the Rivian would ship with that kind of capability, or at least offer a solution less than $4000.

Wallbox Quasar bidirectional home DC charger will turn EVs into a huge Tesla Powerwall

Here's why Quasar, a bidirectional DC charger for homes that is expected to retail for around $4,000, should be in every EV owner's home in a few years

electrek.co

 

[Chris Adams]

Circling back on this. Does anyone know if Rivian will be compatible with bidirectional chargers? This would definitely be a kill two birds with one stone solution that I would love.

 

[lefkonj]

Was just doing some research on Lucid and their vehicle and charger will come with this exact feature. Just figured I would share.

 

[Logan]

For emergencies like Texas' recent grid failures, these options really begin to matter.

You can use your Rivian like a generator but I'm not sure on the total output it allows. If you have solar panels that don't automatically shut down when the grid goes down, you can of course charge the car that way. At the very least, power a space heater and/or perhaps a small fridge/freezer.

 

[eHauler]

There is also the Wallbox device, expected to retail for about $4000, that can provide bi-directional charging that would allow an electric vehicle to power a house. Not sure if Rivian would need to do something specific to accommodate that or if it would work regardless. Still, it would be nice if the Rivian would ship with that kind of capability, or at least offer a solution less than $4000.

Wallbox Quasar bidirectional home DC charger will turn EVs into a huge Tesla Powerwall

Here's why Quasar, a bidirectional DC charger for homes that is expected to retail for around $4,000, should be in every EV owner's home in a few years

electrek.co

After the whole Texas situation, its definitely a must-have now. Tesla quietly added this function early last year.

For emergencies like Texas' recent grid failures, these options really begin to matter.

You can use your Rivian like a generator but I'm not sure on the total output it allows. If you have solar panels that don't automatically shut down when the grid goes down, you can of course charge the car that way. At the very least, power a space heater and/or perhaps a small fridge/freezer.

It also makes a stronger case for those electric jerry cans that Rivian filed patents for.

 

[Realman55]

This is a question I'd like to know the answer to as well. It does seem more and more electric vehicles are offering vehicle to grid power or the equivalent. To me that makes it more worthwhile to buy an electric vehicle, to have that capability.

I asked Rivian about V2H and sent them this particular device...below is Rivian’s response.

Hello Eric,

Thank you for the reply, and though using a Rivian as a "power wall" is possible, however, we will be sharing more details about Rivian vehicles and their charging capabilities soon. I'll be sure to follow up if any additional insight is available, in the meantime please share any feedback you receive from the manufacturer in regards to this matter.

I hope you enjoy your weekend, and we'll talk soon.

 

[Iwannarivian]

Does anyone know if a Rivian or electric vehicle can be used to power a house or the essentials during a natural disaster or when the power grid goes down? And if so, how far could you drain the battery before you case damage?

Yes, the new Ford F150 Lightning and the Lucid Air offer bidirectional charging..allowing you to power you home or anything else! Hoping Rivian does as well or can come up with a cost effective solution if not already supported!

 

[Realman55]

Rivian Yes, and the new Ford 150 Lightning

 

[PAFDenver]

I was at the Ford dealer asking about this and they can already do this with their hybrid F150s. They run down the battery until a point they need to start up the engine to recharge the battery. Pretty smart and from what he said 100% proven.
I swear I read that you could charge one Rivian from another Rivian, but I can't find a reference to it now. If so, it sounds like it has the hardware to do V2H - beyond that it should just be software. I haven't looked into V2H standards though so I could be wrong. I hope to hear that this is a future feature from Rivian. I am trying to decide between the Rivian and the Ford and this is a plus in Ford's favor and I want to decide the Rivian is the better choice.

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

I was at the Ford dealer asking about this and they can already do this with their hybrid F150s. They run down the battery until a point they need to start up the engine to recharge the battery. Pretty smart and from what he said 100% proven.
I swear I read that you could charge one Rivian from another Rivian, but I can't find a reference to it now. If so, it sounds like it has the hardware to do V2H - beyond that it should just be software. I haven't looked into V2H standards though so I could be wrong. I hope to hear that this is a future feature from Rivian. I am trying to decide between the Rivian and the Ford and this is a plus in Ford's favor and I want to decide the Rivian is the better choice.

the F-150 Hybrid does not support V2H, really. What it does offer is some electrical outlets that allow you to use extension cords to run some appliances. The Rivian has some electrical outlets, as well, so you can do that.

However, when people say V2H, they typically mean back-feeding the electrical panel via the J1772 — either automatically, or via a switch. This wouldn’t require unplugging anything or extension cords, or special setup after the power goes out. Instead, the power goes out, and a few seconds later (if automatic) the V2H-enabled EVSE actuate a relay to disconnect your load center from the grid (very important!) then it will turn on V2H and the EV can back-feed the panel. In non-automatic installations you’d have to manually flip a switch in the load center to disconnect from the grid.

You can never backfeed a panel (either via EV, solar, battery unit, or generator) without first disconnecting the load center from the grid. Failure to do so could cause injury or death to a lineman working on the electrical system — even blocks away.

 

[PAFDenver]

Obviously you wouldn't have this run directly to your panel. This would have to go to a transfer switch, just like your run of the mill backup generator.
From what Ford describes it sounds like their large charger includes the capability to do it (unclear if it includes the transfer switch of just the ability to connect to one).

I did get a bunch of bad data from the Ford salesman, so maybe he was wrong about this too, but he sounded completely certain the F150 hybrid can do this. He certainly did not seem to be talking about running extension cords to the bed.

 

[Wildabeest]

Here’s an article about powering a home with F-150 PHEV. As @CommodoreAmiga staated, running extension cords and plugging your stuff directly into the truck is one method. Alternatively you could feed the truck power into a transfer switch which would then run that power into your panel for distribution to (select*) outlets in your house. Given the F-150’ much higher power output capability (7.2kW including a 240v 30a output), this is much more feasible than doing the same with Rivian which is limited to 120v 15a output. In order to get more power from the Rivian, it would need to be true V2H via the charing port. They have not confirmed this will be possible in initial production vehicles, but they did demonstrate something similar (with an external control box) in Long Way Up to do V2V charging. I hopeful they will have this at launch or possible via later OTA.
*given that the power output from the truck is 7.2kW max, it likely can’t power all of you high draw appliances at once. So typically you’ll limited which circuits get powered when you have the transfer switch installed.

I Powered My House with the Ford F-150 Hybrid

If the power goes out, can you use your truck to power your house? We decided to find out.

www.caranddriver.com

 

[PAFDenver]

Yeah, 2.4KW would only get the most critical appliances, but I assume that the V2V is a much higher power circuit. It really HAS to be if it's of any use. This article calls out a tweet from RJ about V2V Rivian CEO R.J. Scaringe interviewed by 'The Drive' . No details, but the only port that would make sense to do that with would be the charging port. Which makes me think that if they can do V2V with the charge port, they should be able to do V2H with it as well, with some software mods and the correct HW on the home side.
I have never read anything about Rivian doing V2H, but I hope they add it down the line. It really would be a nice capability and it seems to be possible from the little info about the Rivian. That's 135KWH - or even 180KWH! - of emergency power (assuming it's fully charged, which it won't always be) on hand for emergencies. And depending on how big the affected area is, you could just drive to a station and fill up every couple of days.
Maybe there's some obscure reason why you can't do V2V and V2H and charging on one port, but I can't think of one. I hope not.

 

[Wildabeest]

And depending on how big the affected area is, you could just drive to a station and fill up every couple of days.

Chances are if your home is without power for days, it’s due to some kind of natural disaster and the charging networks in the area would be impacted as well.

 

[Todd]

I have a 9000w solar system on my roof and a 17kWh backup battery that can power the essentials after a hurricane knocks out the grid. As long as the days have enough sun to power things during the day and replenish the battery it can last indefinitely. But a cloudy day or two can cause anxiety. Having a battery 10x that size to use when needed would alleviate all anxiety and is a much cheaper option. My backup battery added about $15000 to the cost of my system. Very expensive compared to EV battery costs! To do it over again now I could have a very small backup battery and then tie in the large EV battery for virtually unlimited home power.

 

[MtnBiker]

I have a 9000w solar system on my roof and a 17kWh backup battery that can power the essentials after a hurricane knocks out the grid. As long as the days have enough sun to power things during the day and replenish the battery it can last indefinitely. But a cloudy day or two can cause anxiety. Having a battery 10x that size to use when needed would alleviate all anxiety and is a much cheaper option. My backup battery added about $15000 to the cost of my system. Very expensive compared to EV battery costs! To do it over again now I could have a very small backup battery and then tie in the large EV battery for virtually unlimited home power.

I was also trying to figure out how I want to charge and came across an item called Beam EV ARC. Would something like this work for charging and backup power?