Can the Bolt do this?

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JAL1

Member
Joined
Aug 28, 2017
Messages
16
In the event of a natural disaster with long term loss of power, can a fully charged Bolt be used as a power source? This is assuming that the 12v outlet plus an inverter could tap into the 60 kW capacity to power say a TV for public use and a phone charging station.

Jeff
 
Pretty much any EV can do this. You are limited by two factors: the output of the DC-DC converter, and the total energy in the pack when you start. Leafs are commonly paired with 1500 watt inverters, as the max output of the converter is 1800 watts. I think, but I'm not sure, that the Bolt will do 1500 watts or a little less. The most common pitfall is not having the vehicle in Ready mode, so the 12 volt system charging is fully active. When you use Accessory mode you just drain the 12 volt battery.
 
As LeftieBiker said, yes. It can.

The 12V outlet is severely power limited (maybe 150W). You really want a big inverter (say 1500W) tied directly to the 12V battery.
 
Pure sine wave inverters are best, but if the loads you need to run aren't fussy about power source then "modified sine wave" (aka square wave) inverters will work and are much cheaper. Electronic devices that use "wall wart" type power supplies will work with either.
 
I had the EVExtend for my Chevy Volt at the 1,000 watt level before they upgraded to 1,500 watts. This is a semi-permanently installed unit with a 100 amp fuse to the car's 12v battery.

The advantage is easy connection disconnection of the inverter through use of high amperage Anderson PowerPoles.
This also allowed for easy connection of my portable ham radio in the back of the Volt when I wanted to operate while camping (W7ML).

They are doing R&D on a possible unit for the Bolt EV:

http://www.evextend.com/Emergency-Power-Kit.php
 

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The advantage is easy connection disconnection of the inverter through use of high amperage Anderson PowerPoles.
This also allowed for easy connection of my portable ham radio in the back of the Volt when I wanted to operate while camping (W7ML).

Imagine if each mayor in Puerto Rico had access to a EV power source and a ham radio operator. They would have been able to communicate. What a thought.

Of course, I still think it was a mistake to remove morse code literacy from the ham licensing process.

Jeff
 
Yes, every car has this capability, I had a 45 amp power pole connection in the back of my Prius feeding an ISOpwr with an aux battery for ignition off usage of just the radio. This served a bonus purpose in the Prius with the undersized 12V battery, I could jump start my self by disconnecting those two from the ISOpwr and plugging them into each other.

This was simplified in the Prius by the 12 V battery and the DC-DC converter were both in the rear of the vehicle. I was sad to see the Bolt's 12V battery under the hood. I haven't gotten around to doing the same in my Bolt yet, mostly as I haven't decided on an antenna mount I'm happy with.

As an aside, on the Puerto Rico thing, 50 hams will be departing in the next couple of days to deploy in teams of two at shelters across the island. Their kits include HF digital and SSB capabilities as well as VHF. They are also self sufficient power wise with batteries and solar or their own generator for recharging. Primary mission is supporting shelter communications with the outside both within the island, supplies and emergency services requests, for example, as well as with the mainland by sending shelter rosters to the mainland via Winlink for entry into the Red Cross tracking system and the like.
 
As an aside, on the Puerto Rico thing, 50 hams will be departing in the next couple of days to deploy in teams of two at shelters across the island. Their kits include HF digital and SSB capabilities as well as VHF. They are also self sufficient power wise with batteries and Solar or their own generator for recharging. Primary mission is supporting shelter communications with the outside both within the island, supplies and emergency services requests, for example, as well as with the mainland by sending shelter rosters to the mainland via Winlink for entry into the Red Cross tracking system and the like.

I think that is wonderful. We have become so dependent on modern technology that we can become lost in the event of a natural disaster. We might consider not just shipping bottled water and generators, but also gravity driven water filters and solar powered lanterns.
 
michaellax said:
I had the EVExtend for my Chevy Volt at the 1,000 watt level before they upgraded to 1,500 watts. This is a semi-permanently installed unit with a 100 amp fuse to the car's 12v battery.

The advantage is easy connection disconnection of the inverter through use of high amperage Anderson PowerPoles.
This also allowed for easy connection of my portable ham radio in the back of the Volt when I wanted to operate while camping (W7ML).

They are doing R&D on a possible unit for the Bolt EV:

http://www.evextend.com/Emergency-Power-Kit.php

I have their kit for my Leaf, and I will probably buy the harness for the Bolt. It's a good kit, and I've used it as a mobile power source while tailgating and also to provide power to my power tools when working on my boat at the marina. We don't lose power at home very often, so it has not yet been used for emergency backup.
 
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