Mobile power source?

[Rreed423]

It occurred to me that anywhere you drive your Volt you have a lot of battery capacity and a generator. Is there a way to plug into that power? I see all kinds of applications for camping, outdoor cooking, performers with sound systems, etc. I was imagining how much better camping would be if I could heat or cool my tent. Not that you can always park close enough to the campsite to run a cable. Anyway, it was a thought.

[hermperez]

It would be a great feature.. the Volt is also a mobile gas can, much less dangerous than refueling a hot generator in the middle of the night when the power goes off, also the exhaust is fully cleaned up.. much better than the typical generator.

I bet there are lots of fires with generators.

There are third party solutions for light duty trucks, it involves a belt driven generator (looks like a big alternator) with a separate power box that generates the 60hz AC voltage. for larger trucks you also have PTO driven generator heads.

[ChrisC]

See also discussion of this in last week's "house generator" thread. As I said in that thread, it may not be offered in Gen 1 Volts but I fully expect these kinds of features to show up in later evolved generations of the Volt, and other EVs to if GM doesn't locked up the IP first

[omnimoeish]

Its also nice because its all automatic. It will start and stop the generator only when it needs to. I think pasowatz said its possible but they are not officially encouraging it because it could wear down the battery or something although most people would rarely use it. If ever. Some people that camp a lot where there's no power would find it very beneficial. GM could add an inverter for $30 probably.

[JohnK]

If there were a truck or MPV it would make a great option to have. I would imagine that it would be great at construction sites of all kinds.

[hermperez]

GM could add an inverter for $30 probably.

Maybe a 100w inverter for that kind of money.

[Altazi]

Maybe a 100w inverter for that kind of money.

A crappy one with square-wave output.

[majormajor42]

I'm thinking how useful this might be in more of an emergency situation.

So, in my current car, which doesn't have any standard outlets, I once bought one of those DC to AC inverters. I forget how many watts it handled or how much it cost. If I find it, I'll post more about it. I wonder what the amp limit is on it, and what the amp limit is on the jack in the car. I suppose with wattage/amperage limitations, it might actually last quite a long time on a fully charged Volt before the ICE even turns on.

This also makes me wonder, with the additional battery capacity, you could probably accidentally leave the lights on a Volt overnight (is that possible? many cars automatically turn them off nowadays) and not have the usual dead battery problems. Another time, I was driving down to Florida. I spent one night sleeping in my car at a rest stop. At one point I got so hot in the middle of the night that I turned on the AC for a little thinking I could run it without turning on the car. I forget how long I let it run but then I turned it off. Still, in the morning, I needed a jump. So I wonder how long (in lets say 80 degree ambient outside) the batteries could run the onboard AC for when the car is parked?

I might take an unfortunate crisis, like a hurricane, when portable generators are hard to find, but it might amaze us one day how this car is able to do some things that we never anticipated.