EV Charging?

[Uncle Todo]

A local grocery store I frequent is installing two EV charging stations in their parking lot.
I've seen them before, and they are popping up all over the place.
However, when I noticed the stations mentioned in the first sentence, it popped to mind, could they be used to charge house batteries?
You'd need a jack for them obviously, but is there potential there to use for charging house batteries, anyone thought about, looked into, or even doing it?

 

[highdesertranger]

Around here the free ones are for electric vehicles ONLY. if you park in one and you are not an electric vehicle you will be towed. We have had the discussion before on the forum. I emailed one of the charging station companies and I post their response here on the forum. They basically said no, don't do it. So did the police I asked them too.

Now with the pay ones there seems to be some confusion and we never got to the bottom of that question. However I don't understand the concept. If a bunch of RV/van dwellers start overwhelming charging stations it will not bode well for us and why would you pay to charge your house batteries when solar is free.

Highdesertranger

 

[bullfrog]

With some of the new hybrid trucks advertising plug ins for camper trailers I can see in the near future portable Tesla type larger power packs being offered that can be carried in their vehicles for extra range, job sites and possibly RVs. I saw a new set of charging stations at the Powell Museum in Green River Utah (next nearest services 100 miles) the other day and many motels and hotels are adding outside receptacles. I have had parking spaces where you could plug in block heaters for diesel powered vehicles and battery chargers for fishing boats trolling motor batteries. There is little doubt with the push for an improved power grid and increased EV usage there will soon be plenty of places you can charge up the new style battery packs and like most things eventually you will pay to do so. If you take a Prius now and install an inverter on the small battery you basically have your own fairly efficient and quiet 1500 watt power station with a huge battery bank. With a little more wiring and tapping the big battery directly you can install a 3,000 watt inverter which is more efficient and quieter than a Honda generator of the same size I believe. Solar is great for most small load uses as you can usually find enough space for a few panels and a few batteries especially the light weight new tech batteries but high load uses require to much space for enough panels for most RVers.

 

[XERTYX]

That's a great point HDR. Just cuz you might CAN.. Very soon you couldn't because no one in the country could charge their Tesla. And to those who think hey tough luck first come first serve consider this....

They cant start their car until you're out of the way. Takes a lil priority over being able to watch TV and eat microwave popcorn in your rig that still has the power of movement.

 

[bullfrog]

Sort of funny as living in remote Lake Powell we have always had hundreds of boats plugged up 24/7, a full hookup RV park and more than 50 receptacles in the parking areas free to the public for short term use so the EVs we get here may have to sit longer to charge but it has never been a problem finding a place to plug in a battery charger and we have to produce our own power! You guys are worried about finding a place to plug in with access to the grid! I guess the grid needs a lot of improvement! Thank you for your tax dollars as your government is at work! Lol!!! No TV here but I think I will go pop some pop corn while you guys figure this stuff out! Lol!!!

 

[XERTYX]

Eh I dont care to be part of the grid. I see wind, coal, and nuclear becoming more frequent as we move towards more EVs by 2025 or whenever.

We have thousands of years of coal left but like 100 years of crude oil as of like 1987 or so.

EVs sound like the perfect answer but with a 40-60kwh battery to fill every day X 300M Americans.... well. How many solar panels do you have?!

 

[Matlock]

I wanted a ford door latch and stopped by a dealership, large city. They have signs up outside and inside announcing they now are trained and authorized to service all Tesla vehicles. I being the smart azz I am asked where do I plug in my Tesla and the service guy points to two charge stations that were installed three weeks ago. He says 6 more by the end of the month. Said the main use will be for ford electric vehicles but available for anyone for a price, plastic card only and you need the correct male plug.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

A local grocery store I frequent is installing two EV charging stations in their parking lot.
 . . . could they be used to charge house batteries?
You'd need a jack for them obviously, but is there potential there to use for charging house batteries, anyone thought about, looked into, or even doing it?

Every state, county, and city will have their own laws and regulations on who can use chargers (may or may not be posted).  Plus, the provider of the charger may have their own rules (usually posted).  So you need to know what the rules are for the charger you are thinking of using.

In addition, almost all charger being installed now are level 3, which means that they  can supply up to 600 volts.  As such anything connecting will have to meet some standard, probably by NHTSA.  You will need a licensed high voltage electrician to sign off on the installation in your van.

 

[Vannautical engineer]

To answer your original question, I think you would need some sort of charge controller in your rig specifically made to take the input from an EV charger. You might already know this, but EV chargers are more complicated than just a big DC power source. There is communication between the charger and the EV it's charging. You would need a charge controller for your house battery that would mimic the way an EV communicates to the charger.