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First off, safely using a generator to power eg your home furnace requires some costly wiring and installation of a transfer switch (yes you can do it more jank
by matthewdgreen 4y ago
First off, safely using a generator to power eg your home furnace requires some costly wiring and installation of a transfer switch (yes you can do it more jankily but let’s please not.) Moreover: this installation does not compete with the cheapest portable generator at Home Depot, I assume it competes with a dedicated standby generator. Those are much more expensive, and run closer to $3k without installation (which is way more: they require a pedestal and a bunch of hardwiring and a dedicated fuel tank/gas connect.) I looked into a standby generator after an all-day wintertime power outage: it was both annoying and cost-prohibitive. If I could protect my home pipes from freezing in such a future outage by using my existing vehicle, that would be amazing. My threat model here is not “prepper looking for weeks of regular grid independence”, it’s “cheap and clean way of keeping my pipes from freezing during a 1-3 day wintertime power outage.” If I can amortize the electrician cost of installing a charger while also getting this feature, that’s even better.
- brightball 4y agoExactly and on top of that, building in this capability as new battery technology emerges will only expand the benefit. Graphene Aluminum Ion batteries as well as solid state batteries are expected to both increase energy capacity and expand the lifetime of the batteries themselves. I'm not going to be a 1st year buyer of a Lightning but I'll probably be a buyer as soon as the newer batteries start getting introduced.
- bryanlarsen 4y agoWe just had a massive power outage last weekend. (In fact, there are still people without power). The neighbors inquired into the cost of a whole home natural gas generator. $15K for installation sometime this year, $25K to get it installed this week.
- brianwawok 4y agoIt should be <5k to install. Of course depending how far you need to go for the gas run etc.. but it's only maybe 1-2 hours work for someone with the gas line, and 1-2 hours work for an electrician. Source: Have a whole house gas generator
- bryanlarsen 4y agoThe 15K quote was for the generator + installation.
- 0daystock 4y agoA transfer switch should cost a few hundred bucks by a licensed electrician - not costly. I picked up a 1200W generator for under a thousand bucks and a few cans of propane to store and run it on. I can power most of my home, including my mini-split, on it. The whole ordeal was simple and inexpensive, unlike trying to get a truck to do the same.
- rsync 4y agoA transfer switch is not required. The $30 lockout tabs are simple, safe and code-compliant. Nothing janky about them and also no unnecessary complexity.