[Dayle Frame]

I’m nearing retirement age and we’ve discussed getting a big RV to roam the country (and Canada). I’m in love with my Bolt and want to keep it and trailer it behind the RV. Does anyone know if the Bolt can be charged by the RV as it’s rolling down the road? I plan on asking a tech type at an RV joint but I wanted to look here first to see if anyone is currently doing this.

Dayle

 

[Packard V8]

Most RVs have a genset with an AC output and it's easy to see how that could be jury-rigged, but why? That would mean using gasoline to power a generator when most often the Bolt is soon going to be overnight in an RV park with a 220V grid-supplied output.

Yes, I know sometimes RV owners opt for wilderness sites, but still the genset is going to be stationary overnight there. The noise pollution from the genset overnight isn't good, but some are quieter than others.

jack vines

 

[GregBrew]

I’m nearing retirement age and we’ve discussed getting a big RV to roam the country (and Canada). I’m in love with my Bolt and want to keep it and trailer it behind the RV. Does anyone know if the Bolt can be charged by the RV as it’s rolling down the road? I plan on asking a tech type at an RV joint but I wanted to look here first to see if anyone is currently doing this.

Dayle

Are you talking about regeneratively charging of the Bolt with the drive wheels on the ground? It can probably be done if the Bolt ignition is "on", but it would be a terribly inefficient way to charge it. IMO, the extra wear and tear on the drive train and tires wouldn't be worth it, either.


If you're talking about running an EVSE from the RV gen set (with the Bolt front end up on a trailer), I can't think of any technical reasons why that couldn't be done. You'd just need to keep in mind the maximum output of the gen set and the constant 8A/12A draw of the Bolt's 120V EVSE. This could get you ~5-7.5mi of range per hour of charge. Alternatively, could you upgrade the RV's gen set to 240V? Without making it too much larger, you could up the charge rate to 2.88kW or ~15mi of range per hour, using a slightly modified "stock" Bolt EVSE. You'd also want the EVSE proper to be locked in the gen set compartment.

 

[dbostrom]

Seems as though it would be nice to have a plan in pocket for this even if it's rarely used. But OMG, the thermodynamic tragedy!!

Somebody's gonna say it so we may as well get it over with now: just turn on the Bolt, put it in L and let it regen while being towed. [commence identification of many problems with that idea, starting with horribly scrubbed tires but gee this could be a software thing: "towgen mode" blah-blah-blah ]

 

[California]

Seems to me that would be taking the long way around. It would be simpler for the minor excursions you would make from a campsite, to just tow a Civic or something that weighs half the Bolt. It would use the gasoline directly and far more efficiently compared to a fuel-hungry and noisy generator. And it would transport its own fuel. That's simpler than carrying big gasoline jugs in the RV to refuel the generator.

Or as PackardV8 said, I expect plugging in at each campground would avoid the hassle of generating your own electricity.

 

[dbostrom]

Unfortunately it seems as though California hits the nail on the head. Even from the perspective of "doing the right thing" it makes more sense to find a very light IC car and tow it rather than generate to charge.

Presumably with some discipline it could still work, if one were to set policy that charging happens at RV parks with AC drops and the car gets charged while the RV stays dark, until enough charge is in.

Not quite an apples-apples resource but this analysis is quite interesting in terms of the economics of generating electricity with small IC engines:

http://www.oceannavigator.com/January-February-2012/The-cost-of-energy-on-boats/

 

[Dayle Frame]

I used the wrong syntax in my query. I should explain....I’m wondering if the RV can ‘export’ some current while I’m driving it down the road. Maybe just a couple of amps. Somewhat like plugging in a grandma’s at Xmas. I expect that the RV would be making loooong drives and why mot try and use that time to charge the Bolt.

1. The car is on a trailer....no Bolt wheels would touch the ground.
2. I’m not talking about using the RV’s generator. As correctly pointed out, that’s defeating the purpose.

Again......I’m curious if anyone is doing this.

Dayle

 

[California]

In that case - get an inverter (12V to 120V) and you might have to upgrade the RV's alternator to something that can run continuous at full output.

Possibly a larger truck 24 volt alternator could be added, and since Europe runs on 240 volts there must be inverters with 24 volts in / 240 volts out.

 

[Bolterado]

Either way, you're still using gas (or diesel) to make those amps.

A Bolt's not the smartest thing to tow around. You're carrying 1000 pounds of batteries around that you'll probably never use. How much extra fuel is your RV burning doing that?

 

[dbostrom]

So Level I charging via an inverter powered by the RV's alternator?

I can't cite an example of it actually being done but it'll pencil out, given a lashing of money.

The RV will need a very large alternator, or maybe a second alternator tied to a dedicated inverter so as to keep confounding factors such as microwave ovens etc. out of the picture.

But hideously inefficient...

 

[boltage]

Not quite an apples-apples resource but this analysis is quite interesting in terms of the economics of generating electricity with small IC engines:

http://www.oceannavigator.com/January-February-2012/The-cost-of-energy-on-boats/

The end of this linked page mentions how cost effective solar panels on the boat could be, in context of how expensive the electricity on the boat can be.

 

[dbostrom]

Yeah, PV panels on boats are fantastic. For sailboats during most times of the year the reefer is the big consumer, followed by instrumentation while under sail. It only takes a very modest array to substantially offset those two things. PV panels do that job silently while underway. We installed a nominal 200W pair on board and they've been transformative. Just needed to figure out how to do it without them being in the way and without adding a bunch of windage. Not too hard.

There's something really horrible about unleashing a bunch of thrashing parts, heat, noise and stink just to get a relative trickle of power into batteries. Panels: "aaahhhh."

 

[California]

And that leads to ... cover the roof of the RV with PV panels! That should silently give a few miles of charge per day.

 

[NewsCoulomb]

As others have mentioned, I think it's possible, but I wonder about your use case. If the RV is going to be your primary vehicle, and you are towing a vehicle for local driving, it seems less necessary to have a low-compromise EV like the Bolt EV.

Now, if you want an EV that you can use for all of your driving needs (but you eventually want to combine it with an RV lifestyle), I think the Bolt EV is a perfectly viable option. I'm not sure what other vehicles people are thinking you might want to tow around instead, but the Bolt EV is actually fairly light for a 240-mile EV. At 3,500 lbs, it's not that much heavier than many of the "toy" vehicles people like to tow behind their RVs. It's possible that something like a used BMW i3 REX (gas range extender) could also be an option, but those are almost as heavy as the Bolt EV.

As for charging the Bolt EV, I think you simply need to have the right inverter set up, and as others have stated, consider solar panels. I've seen conversions where people have modified old Nissan LEAF batteries to increase the energy storage capacity of their RV while lowering weight. A system like that could easily integrate with an inverter that could run the Bolt EV's EVSE.

Also, I wouldn't overlook just how capable the Bolt EV is even when you aren't charging it through the RV's local power system. The public DCFC networks are being built out fast enough that you could easily bivouac (even off grid), drive your Bolt EV into town for quick dinner, movie, shopping, etc. near a DCFC (adds about 90+ miles of range per 30 minutes) or even L2 AC (adds 20+ miles of range per hour), and drive back to camp with a nearly full battery. Just as an example, if you are familiar with the area, I drove from Kanab, UT to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, camped for the night, drove back down through Zion National Park, and back into Saint George, UT all on a single battery charge: https://youtu.be/0W4syyEMe9I

 

[Vertiformed]

I used the wrong syntax in my query. I should explain....I’m wondering if the RV can ‘export’ some current while I’m driving it down the road. Maybe just a couple of amps. Somewhat like plugging in a grandma’s at Xmas. I expect that the RV would be making loooong drives and why mot try and use that time to charge the Bolt.

1. The car is on a trailer....no Bolt wheels would touch the ground.
2. I’m not talking about using the RV’s generator. As correctly pointed out, that’s defeating the purpose.

Again......I’m curious if anyone is doing this.

I doubt anyone is. You'd want fairly clean power (e.g., output from a pure sine wave inverter), at about 1200 watts (the Bolt is going to draw at least 960W for 8A charging), plus a need to simulate grounding so that the car is happy to think that it's properly grounded. What you'd get for this is 0.85 kW going into the battery (70 hours to charge from near empty), or more than eight times slower than plugging in to a 240V supply.

In addition, this power is not free. It'll put extra load on the alternator for the RV and decrease fuel economy.

 

[redpoint5]

1. The car is on a trailer....no Bolt wheels would touch the ground.
2. I’m not talking about using the RV’s generator. As correctly pointed out, that’s defeating the purpose.

This doesn't clarify anything at all. You're not talking about regen, and you're not talking about using the genset to charge, so what are you talking about? The only thing left would be a 12v inverter to output a couple hundred watts, which would be pointless.

I'm not entirely opposed to the idea of a limited amount of regen while being towed. Nobody would recommend it, but it should work fine.

The thing is, if you're hauling the Bolt, then presumably it starts out with a full charge. Then, when you get to an RV destination, you have electrical hookups, so there's no need to charge on the run. Charging on the run is a last resort tactic, not a first or second resort.

 

[dbostrom]

Whatever the outcome it's interesting to hash out the details. Very few questions are dumb enough to better go unasked.