Thanks for this info, very helpful!

 

I'm also late to this. And I'm in a bind as my whole house generator is out of action and a tropical storm is coming. So just running a 400W inverter off the Bolt 12v battery with ignition on will presumably be fine? What is the max inverter I could run?

Also, what is V2G and V2L? I get V2H....I hope...LOL.

Thx!

 

You can run an inverter off the 12V battery. You should have the car "on" when you do this, so that it is constantly keeping the 12V battery charged. Normally, if you turn the Bolt on and get out, it will shut off in 2 hours. The trick is to keep the driver's door open when you start the car, then put in it neutral, then exit and close the door. Be sure to set the parking brake and/or use wheel chocks. Now it will stay on indefinitely. It will make the pedestrian warning sound, but you can pull the proper fuse to silence that.

Most people will tell you to limit power usage to 1,000 watts. Of course, you can pull a bit more for a short time and be fine. I use a 1,500 watt inverter with my Bolt. I wanted enough head room to start tougher loads like motors and compressors.

V2H = Vehicle to Home
V2G = Vehicle to Grid
V2L = Vehicle to Load (basically, having 120V and/or 240V outlets in/on the car.
V2x = all of the above

 

EV Extend just announced their inverter kit for 22-23 Bolt EUV’s! EV Extend - Inverter Kit for 2022-2023 Chevrolet Bolt EV and EUV

 

We keep cars for a decade, at least. We bought the Bolt with the intension of it being our last car. The car needs to be plugged in for the onboard 12 volt charger to check the battery every 6 hours. We did that for over five years. But it meant the traction battery was always at ~90%/18 bars charge. A cell failed in the traction pack, so we ended up with a new battery. Since GM won't even sell us the newer software to allow charging to lower charge limits, we now disconnect when it gets to ~80%/16 bars, and keep the 12 volt on a maintainer.

The EUV provides for selecting the maximum fill point, FYI

 

The Bolt does too, since 2019.

 

Maybe look into a Ford Lightning pickup if you need it now? Or keep the gas generator dusted off for a bit longer. In a while lots of EV's will be able to do what the Lightning does today re: 240 VAC high-power output.

 

So - by what mechanism do you feel unplugging the EVSE benefits the battery longevity?

 

It allows me to only charge to 80%. I hoped for some time that GM would offer us the infotainment software upgrade that later became stock, but this is GM.

I am not going to get into a discussion of peoples' opinions about reducing charge range and battery degradation.

 

Here's what the lightning inverter install looks like:

quite a few features/limitations mentioned. like 9kw inverting from the truck accepts 4kw of solar... but doesn't charge the truck over dc. Sounds like the inverter supports a standalone battery storage system? like 48v? the pv inputs are interesting too, since there is 4 of them.. sounds like lower voltage pv open circuit support, which is disappointing.

Effectively 5 components..
Inverter
Transfer switch + auto transformer
12v battery (powers the transfer-switch+EVSE+inverter during power outage)
EVSE(CCS connector.. but doesn't charge via dc?)
breaker+box for evse disconnect(prolly only the ac side?)

weird stuff all in all..feels like a hodge podge of stuff jammed together. Give this a few years for this stuff to mature..

 

I'm not sure if this video is of any help:

 

The EV6/Ioniq5 has the ability to do V2L and some people have used this as a backup. This is similar to using the Ford Lightning in vehicle inverter instead of buying the expensive V2H with offboard inverter. There is a video of EV6 using a kit from Nature's Generator to use the 120V V2L to power most of the house. Obviously the Bolt doesn't have this V2L option nor does the output from the EV Extend kit provide as much power as the EV6 (I'll head off the comments already).

 

One option that does exist today is a couple of kits from EV Extend that lets you power your house, similar to a modestly sized backup generator, with your EV acting as an additional store of energy.

The EVEX-1000B is a wiring kit that lets you get power from the Bolt (about 1000W from the 12V system):
EVEX-1000B: EV Extend - Inverter Kit for 2017-2021 Chevrolet Bolt EV

The EVEX-6002W or similar is a relatively small battery bank "buffer" with a large 6000W (18000W 20-second surge) split phase inverter, that lets you power your house in much the same way as a generator does, without all the engine maintenance. It can also act as an uninterruptible power supply. This system doesn't need an EV; it will use its small battery bank to power your circuits, and the inverter/charger automatically will recharge the batteries when power returns. However, for longer duration outages, the EVEX-6002W also comes with an auxiliary charger that is custom configured to let you help keep the smaller battery bank charged while it's in use (from an auxiliary power source, like the Bolt using the EVEX-1000B kit). This takes advantage of the fact that your AVERAGE power consumption in your home is likely close to or even under 1000W, so the Bolt can keep the EVEX-6000W system running for longer durations even though the house may use much more power than that at times.
EVEX-6002W: EV Extend - 120V/240V Home Backup Power System

With the combination of the two systems, you have all the convenience of a gas generator, without the engine maintenance or noise, with the added benefits of acting like an uninterruptible power supply, and the ability to tap the energy from your EV for longer duration power outages.

 

The easiest is still the 120v from the 12v dc battery limited to 1.5kw continuous draw. No v2g or v2h stuff exists for the bolt at the moment.

I've connected a solar inverter directly to the HV battery but haven't reversed the CAN messages I'd need to send or find the relay I'd need to manually power to sustain my connection from the HPDM..thus this method requires the car to be on.. and draws a hefty 1kw idle fee..

Your best bet is to wait a few years and see if one of the many v2g/v2h solutions that are coming will pan out... but even then don't expect them to be very cheap compared to your generator. I expect a minimum 5-10 thousand dollars for the first setups with 7kw type outputs.. (and probably high frequency inverters that wouldn't be suitable for your well pump/hvac without softstarts added. ) Thats if GM decides to share/allow it on the bolt.. which is highly unlikely in my opinion.

so 4 routes.
1. diy, become an electrical engineer and hack it together.
2. buy a f150 lightning(only vehicle on the market with decently high power v2h options)
3. wait a few years and buy another vehicle that supports what you want with a v2h solution you like.
4. cry. and use 120v for cheap on a few select appliances.

Personally I vote you choose 1 and teach us how to do it. I'm not selfish at all.

 

this method requires the car to be on.. and draws a hefty 1kw idle fee

I don't think the car being on draws 1kw of power. I know it says 1kw, but when you turn the air conditioner on it still stays on 1kw. I figure the air conditioning is at minimum 500 watts and probably more like 800 watts. So the car is using anywhere from 200 to 500 watts to just simply be powered on.