Joe got his Kia EV6 in late 2022 and while he knew he had V2L, he had never actually used it. The dealer didn’t know much about it, either. But, when the power went out overnight on August 6, Joe figured he should try it out.
“I got the car out of the garage in the morning and hooked up the V2L connector in the back and plugged in the fridge…I have also charged phones, laptops and run our air fryer to make lunch.”
V2L stands for Vehicle to Load, and it means that you can use your EV battery as, well…a battery. The same energy that powers the electric motor can be rerouted and used to power just about anything that meets the power capacity of the car. Not all EVs have V2L capabilities just yet, since it requires an onboard inverter, which allows the car to take the DC energy in the battery and convert it to usable AC electricity.
In the EV6, you can change the car’s mode to V2L, and you have the option to set a state of charge limit for V2L use. Once the battery hits the charge percentage you preselect, it will stop working as a power source. This ensures that Joe will have enough battery to hit up a supercharger before getting totally depleted.
“After running everything for about 12 hours, I've gone from 73% charge to 68% charge, about 4 kWh. Should last at least a week at this rate. And if I run out? My giant mobile battery is mobile! I can run down to the fast charger and get charged up quickly (probably 30 minutes max for the EV6). No lugging around diesel needed.”
Joe points out that the Electrify America stations near him run on generators, anyhow, so contrary to popular misinformation, charging will be no problem. Commercial areas where fast chargers live are often the first to get power back, asl well.
Thankfully, nothing really bad happened to Joe or his family. They have their health and their property remains intact. But, having a huge power reserve in the garage has saved them hundreds of dollars in food and some sanity while they wait for essential services to come back online. The latest news is that electricity will come back on Wednesday, a week after it went down.
Up and down his street, Joe and his family smell the diesel fumes of gas generators as neighbors try to keep their homes powered.
So how does using your car compare? Well, it’s less stinky, but there are other nuances. Kia points out that certain high powered appliances may not operate the same as if plugged into the wall, and cautions that appliances must consume less power than the car can provide.
When all is said and done, Joe is even happier about his car today than he was last month.
There is a trade off to range anxiety, he explains,
“While I can't bring fuel to the car, I have a huge reserve of power just waiting to be used if a disaster strikes. Most people with a gas car can’t say that. So instead of "range anxiety," I have "natural disaster calm."
