Car battery to charge house

I have an off grid solar system which runs my workshop (as a hobby), when the power goes out I run an extension lead into the house. I can charge the car from it at 6-8 amps if the sun is shining

I've decided not to get a V2L cable for the car, I figure that's like siphoninig fuel out

johnb80 said:

OK, it just seems an odd way to go about it. I have installed batteries at home and run in that way, I dont think I'd want to be swapping plugs over at 05:30 in the morning and 23:30 at night to do the charging and discharging etc. The additional wear on the car battery isnt something Id want to do either for the sake of a couple grand for a system.

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If you are lucky enough to have storage batteries at home, then great.
Some owners are using their cars as home storage batteries really.
They is no big deal here, they plug in there cars after use and then them up to commence charging on a delayed charge, that will align with the cheaper rate tariff in the early hours.
It will automatically commence charging to their "Off Peak" when the tariff starts and end's.
Then plug in the V2L cable the following day to use the stored energy stored in the cars battery.
The car battery is doing the same job as your house battery really.

Sorry - this was on SpeakEV - MG4 rocking 7Kw V2L Real full home use possible.. Not just cheap overnight electricity, but greener electricity - its cheaper because the demand is much lower overnight but cannot be easily stored (except in hydro-electric) so EV's can provide a distributed storage system. The house demand for power is very much lower than for the car and hence less stressful.

Lovemyev said:

If you are lucky enough to have storage batteries at home, then great.

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It's not down to luck, shear hard graft !

Lovemyev said:

Some owners are using their cars as home storage batteries really.

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I understand that, it's the wider implications I dont understand.

Lovemyev said:

They is no big deal here, they plug in there cars after use and then them up to commence charging on a delayed charge, that will align with the cheaper rate tariff in the early hours.
It will automatically commence charging to their "Off Peak" when the tariff starts and end's.

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Of course

Lovemyev said:

Then plug in the V2L cable the following day to use the stored energy stored in the cars battery.

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But then at 05:30 when the off peak tariff ends, they swap cables over and switch over to running from the car? If they need to use the car, change the house back to grid and unplug. To save what? 23p per kWh. My average background usage is around 600w, in 10 hrs I would save 6kWh or £1.38 by the above, it really (to me) seems like a lot of hassle, increased battery wear and not inconsiderable modifications to your home supply.

Lovemyev said:

The car battery is doing the same job as your house battery really.

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Actually it isnt, my house batteries are absolutely autonomous, I dont have to do anything at all, they just sit there and save a fortune in electricity costs.

My intention is to use the car to run a heat pump, so a 64 kWh capacity would be appropriate - the battery system comes free with the car and will significantly reduce gas demand in winter. As I'm retired my vehicle usage makes this a very efficient setup, though in the long term a small home battery may also prove a useful backup.

timE said:

Sorry - this was on SpeakEV - MG4 rocking 7Kw V2L Real full home use possible..

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Thanks, I'll have a look

timE said:

Not just cheap overnight electricity, but greener electricity

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I dont agree with greener, Octopus Energy is 100% green and thats used my most EV owners.

timE said:

its cheaper because the demand is much lower overnight but cannot be easily stored (except in hydro-electric) so EV's can provide a distributed storage system.

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Pumped storage works really well and can come online quickly in either direction. EV's can provide a distributed storage system but not really in the manner being discussed here. Yes you can charge off peak and then feed some loads but it isnt truly supporting grid in the way a grid tied inverter system would and in shear practical terms it's not very good.

timE said:

The house demand for power is very much lower than for the car and hence less stressful.

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It is less stressful as you say but stress isnt really a major factor with batteries unless you go to extremes. It's the number cycles that matter and that number would be increased. There is a real potential issue with earth too with certain types of grid supply. Caveat Emptor!

johnb80 said:

It's not down to luck, shear hard graft !

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John by posting this comment in this tone, I am little unsure why you thought I was suggesting at any point in time that in some way, you were not entitled the use of your purchase by “Shear Hard Work” as you put it ?.
I think you have taken the word “Luck” in the incorrect context that I intended.
I believe you make your own luck in this world.
I am sure you understand that there are many factors that could prevent owners from having storage batteries installed, regardless of their financial position.
In the case of V2L some people are tapping into that option, of utilising the stored energy in their car.
Is this as good as a full dedicated home storage system ?.
Of course it’s not, but it does provide some harnessed back up power in say a power outage for example.
Before V2L this facility was not available unless you had a generator etc.
A big advantage of V2L is that ( unlike your home storage batteries ) it is mobile of course.
If you have your car with a sufficient level of charge stored and a suitable V2L cable, you have a A/C power on tap almost anywhere.
Handy for use when camping or running small electrical appliances when no power is available.
If you have both then brilliant .

Lovemyev said:

John by posting this comment in this tone, I am little unsure why you thought I was suggesting at any point in time that in some way, you were not entitled the use of your purchase by “Shear Hard Work” as you put it ?.
I think you have taken the word “Luck” in the incorrect context that I intended.
I believe you make your own luck in this world.

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That was just banter on my part My DIY battery was blood, sweat and tears for a while deciding on equipment and configuration etc.

Lovemyev said:

I am sure you understand that there are many factors that could prevent owners from having storage batteries installed, regardless of their financial position.
In the case of V2L some people are tapping into that option, of utilising the stored energy in their car.
Is this as good as a full dedicated home storage system ?.
Of course it’s not, but it does provide some harnessed back up power in say a power outage for example.
Before V2L this facility was not available unless you had a generator etc.
A big advantage of V2L is that ( unlike your home storage batteries ) it is mobile of course.
If you have your car with a sufficient level of charge stored and a suitable V2L cable, you have a A/C power on tap almost anywhere.

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I do think people should be aware it's not as straightforward as some people protray and the caveats involved.

Lovemyev said:

Handy for use when camping or running small electrical appliances when no power is available.

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Absolutely and power cuts too, a fantastic and capable backup supply.

We've got the power off tomorrow whilst we have the old consumer fuse box taken out and a new circuit breaker installed.

I'll be running the kitchen from the house battery emergency socket, and the front room from the car. I'll let you know how it goes.

Fascinating discussion.
As I thought, a very useful emergency supply and as Lovemyev says portable too. Read quite a bit about this but not got the extra kit yet to try it. Any recommendations as to what to buy and where from?

Hi I’d like to jump on this. I have an mg ev zs and would like a v2l cable - can anyone recommend a cable? Thanks

I bought MGs own one. Glyn Hopkins sell them. It has has two weatherproof sockets to plug into and a pretty long cable. I've never had need of it yet for power cuts. But I have used it for when vacuuming the car. Annoyingly my car still switches off V2L after a few minutes if the car is turned off, despite asking for this to be rectified at its first service. I will ask them to do it again at the next one in late August, early Sept.

I got my adapter from Third Rock Energy.

I've found a problem with V2L in the ZS. I plugged in this morning and started the discharge, which went fine. However, after a few minutes it cut out. The display on the dash said it was still in discharge mode and showed a little animation. I think that the laptop, smart speaker and router weren't drawing enough power to keep the V2L active.

When I used it before, it was running the fridge/freezer, kettle and microwave and worked fine.

Gadget Geek said:

I got my adapter from Third Rock Energy.

I've found a problem with V2L in the ZS. I plugged in this morning and started the discharge, which went fine. However, after a few minutes it cut out. The display on the dash said it was still in discharge mode and showed a little animation. I think that the laptop, smart speaker and router weren't drawing enough power to keep the V2L active.

When I used it before, it was running the fridge/freezer, kettle and microwave and worked fine.

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Although I have a V2L cable, I have not utilised it as much as I expected too really.
I purchased it, not long after I bought the car and got it at a really good price from EV cables, as this was the first batch of leads they produced.
The first trial batch sold out in less than 1 week and when the second batch was released, the price had increased dramatically !.
When I first tried using it, I only had it plugged into a 240v inspection hand lamp.
Left it running for about 10 minutes with the car in ready mode, no problem.
Soon as I closed down the car, it stopped discharging straight away.
MG released an update a while later, that would cure this problem.
I had this done at the same time as the first service.
I have conducted a proof of concept after the update and yes it works fine with the car closed down and locked.
Again, I have only used the low powered hand light for testing purposes though.
Here is the cable that I have.

Lovemyev said:

Although I have a V2L cable, I have not utilised it as much as I expected too really.
I purchased it, not long after I bought the car and got it at a really good price from EV cables, as this was the first batch of leads they produced.
The first trial batch sold out in less than 1 week and when the second batch was released, the price had increased dramatically !.
When I first tried using it, I only had it plugged into a 240v inspection hand lamp.
Left it running for about 10 minutes with the car in ready mode, no problem.
Soon as I closed down the car, it stopped discharging straight away.
MG released an update a while later, that would cure this problem.
I had this done at the same time as the first service.
I have conducted a proof of concept after the update and yes it works fine with the car closed down and locked.
Again, I have only used the low powered hand light for testing purposes though.
Here is the cable that I have.

MG Vehicle to Load V2L Discharge Cable

A Simple Adapter Power Source (MG Only) PLEASE NOTE: We have received reports that the latest deliveries (06/2023) of MG ZS models have had the V2L functionality disabled or removed. Please confirm with your dealer before purchase. Turn your MG ZS (2022), MG 5 (Facelifted 2023), MG4 (2022) and...

evcables.com

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Mine goes for a short while after closing the car down but then switches off after a few minutes. It does not switch off straight away as soon as I close the car down.

Ruislip Resident said:

Mine goes for a short while after closing the car down but then switches off after a few minutes. It does not switch off straight away as soon as I close the car down.

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Just double check what discharge percentage value you have set in the discharge screen.
Here you can see that my is randomly set to only discharge to 50%.
If I was discharging, when it hits 50% of the battery status, it will stop the discharge in order to protect the remaining range in the traction battery.

V2H is only a thing on Japanese cars due to chademo. European CCS doesn't support it.

DriverX said:

V2H is only a thing on Japanese cars due to chademo. European CCS doesn't support it.

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We are talking about Vehicle to Load here.

Gadget Geek said:

We are talking about Vehicle to Load here.

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The title of the thread is "Car battery to charge house" and the question asked was "can you use the car battery, charged cheaply overnight, to supply home in daytime on ZSEV GEN 2"

Simple answers is !.
Yes you can given the correct equipment and the knowledge to install it.