Volt = Standby whole house generator?

[rhodomel]

Are you talking about the 4-stroke 80cc Sportsman that pumps out 1500W RMS?

I'm not sure I would qualify that as a whole house generator

The Voltec powerplant is over 30x that.

So I guess if you want to buy 30 some $200 generators

There was a 4 kw model that went on sale which is ideal for an average house. Although the 1.5 kw model is way lighter and suited for camping so the 30x figure is way overblown like the fuse.

[Andy0x1]

There was a 4 kw model that went on sale which is ideal for an average house. Although the 1.5 kw model is way lighter and suited for camping so the 30x figure is way overblown like the fuse.

I'm not sure what world you live in wihere 4kw is ideal for an average house. An electric water heater alone could max that out.

"so the 30x figure is overblown like the fuse" ? I'm not sure that made any sense?

FYI: The voltec generator is 53kw (or roughly 1/2 the needed power to max out the single drive motor of the car.)

[George S. Bower]

There was a 4 kw model that went on sale which is ideal for an average house. Although the 1.5 kw model is way lighter and suited for camping so the 30x figure is way overblown like the fuse.

There should be a law against these cheap ass gen sets. It's gotten so you can't go camping anymore w/o listening to one of these things----and the idiots that buys them don't give a **** about anybody around them. They even run them all night.

If you want a gen set do your neighbors a favor and:

1)buy a Honda genset
2) turn the f'ing thing off at a reasonable hour.

[Andy0x1]

There should be a law against these cheap ass gen sets. It's gotten so you can't go camping anymore w/o listening to one of these things----and the idiots that buys them don't give a **** about anybody around them. They even run them all night.

If you want a gen set do your neighbors a favor and:

1)buy a Honda genset
2) turn the f'ing thing off at a reasonable hour.

hehe, touchy subject George?

[George S. Bower]

hehe, touchy subject George?

My neighbor suggested some plastique planted on the engine case.

I think a little tiptoe over after dark and some sugar in the gas tank would work pretty well also.

[jsutter]

The coolest gas tank prank I've heard of involves putting a piece of cellophane in the tank that, after a minute or two, gets sucked down and covers the strainer, cutting off the gas. It's maddening because when the fuel flow halts and stalls the car, the cellophane floats up to the surface so that when the motor is retried, it works again just fine - for one or two minutes. It'd take a tech w/a flow meter on the fuel line to even isolate the problem and a tank replacement, maybe, to fix it. It'd make an interesting Mythbusters segment to try this out and an interesting theme to see them try the variations if their editorial policy permitted dirty tricks.

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If there was a 50kw interface for the Volt, it'd be super to have household standby power as an option. The configuration of the cables, transfer box, and integration for the common "whole house" GENERAC standby generator that I have indicate that this could be practical.

In suburban DC the noise limit is 70db at the property line - mine barely qualifies (I keep two long 15 amp cords w/circuit breakers that can power my neighbors' fridge, small TV, and CFL/LED passage lights while starting my whole-house AC to spread the jealousy :-) in case of an extended outage). I'm sure the Volt would be a lot quieter.

If the car was in an enclosed garage, you'd need to ventilate the exhaust to protect from CO poisoning when the range extender genset started up. If there was a bayonet connector for the exhaust hose that operated an interlock it would trump the "complexity / additional point of failure concern" if it didn't add too much cost. Chevy dealers would add or contract for a line of business installing home based equipment - and when the equipment become widely installed, the power company could be forwarded OnStar status messages to help locate the point of failure when outages occurred.

If the majority of auto recharging was done in the evening after 8:00pm we are able to electrify 80% of the US auto fleet without adding any additional generation or transmission infrastructure. Moreover, power companies benefit from the increased off peak utilization of their capital equipment profiting the same way hotels do when the occupancy goes up. That's why split time electric meters currently allow billing for evening usage at lower cost. If Chevy dealers were licensed to upgrade the meter as part of a standby power rig, the installation would pay for itself over time in lower electric bills or the power company could make it free and charge no more than the regular price the way cellular providers subsidize the cost of mobile phones.

Either way, a Volt owner will be paying a fraction for the cost of energy and shrinking their family's carbon footprint in areas served by utilities that have some mix of methods that is not 100% coal.