An electric vehicle owner has used her car’s emergency power system to run her 11-year-old son’s lifesaving dialysis machine and another has ridden to the rescue of his neighbours after devastating storms cut power in south-east Queensland.
When the power went down following storms and flash flooding on Christmas Day, many residents immediately felt the consequences: electric gates did not work, septic tanks began to fill, air conditioners could not run and fridges began to warm as a heatwave followed.
But some electric vehicle drivers whose cars are equipped with “vehicle to load” systems – a back-up power system that allows the car to act as an emergency generator or supply for devices such as lights, laptops, TVs and refrigerators – stepped in to help out and, in some cases, save lives.
That’s a really cool feature. I think some electric Fords can even hook up to your house the same way as a generator.
Yep.
The lightning I know can. I remember reading about how a guy went to a wedding with his when they first came out. Power went out, and they ran the whole wedding off his truck for the next few hours with zero issues. He still had 60% battery to drive home.