Rivian R1T praise - Hurricane Helene Experience

[Tango45]

A friend of mine said it was an expensive backup power option, but I believe it's a pricey truck with a free backup power bonus. Another bonus is that I was able to cut up the dead tree and haul it to the dump in the Rivian.

My generator currently needs a repair. Not sure what. I only use it a few times a year. Pulled it out just to test/run it, and nothing. So yeah, your backup needs a backup....

Yeah, your friend has the wrong perspective. It's the best car I ever bought and it can charge a fleshlight in an emergency. My town loses power when it rains too hard, so I bought a generator a few years back. I never used it since I got the EVs and just plug a fridge into those when we lose power. However, it's an ICE, so the gas went bad, the battery died, and things got gummed up (just because you know how to maintain it, doesn't mean you will...). I had to drain the tank, get new gas, charge the battery, and use starter fluid to get it to run long enough to sell it.

There's a vision where EVs are widely adopted and the distributed power available from all of them helps a community make it through an event. We're a long way from there, but the ability of an EV to help in an emergency is another point I make when telling people why I like these vehicles so much.

Sponsored

 

[daeHelkcunK]

Yeah, your friend has the wrong perspective. It's the best car I ever bought and it can charge a fleshlight in an emergency. My town loses power when it rains too hard, so I bought a generator a few years back. I never used it since I got the EVs and just plug a fridge into those when we lose power. However, it's an ICE, so the gas went bad, the battery died, and things got gummed up (just because you know how to maintain it, doesn't mean you will...). I had to drain the tank, get new gas, charge the battery, and use starter fluid to get it to run long enough to sell it.

There's a vision where EVs are widely adopted and the distributed power available from all of them helps a community make it through an event. We're a long way from there, but the ability of an EV to help in an emergency is another point I make when telling people why I like these vehicles so much.

You had me at fleshlight

 

[Rivian Owner]

To be clear, your Rivian already does Vehicle to Load, the 120 v outlets are considered V2L. Vehicle to Home(V2H) is the next step, where your charger can have current flow bidirectionalaly, so basically the EV runs the house through your electrical panel. You will likely need additional hardware to convert the EV's DC back to AC and to control the flow. There are other parts to V2H.

Some manufacturers are also testing Vehicle to Grid (V2G), I've read Kia is testing V2G overseas. V2G is where your Vehicle can help the grid respond to spikes in demand for power. V2G is probably the most complex because we will want to get compensated for draining and stressing our EV's battery.

Sponsored