After the whole Texas situation, its definitely a must-have now. Tesla quietly added this function early last year.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.
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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 yearselectrek.co
It also makes a stronger case for those electric jerry cans that Rivian filed patents for.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.
I asked Rivian about V2H and sent them this particular device...below is Rivian’s response.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.
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!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?
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.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.
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.And depending on how big the affected area is, you could just drive to a station and fill up every couple of days.
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?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.