[gsbaker]

Yes. Outages are not frequent,.but tend to happen at inopportune times. With a well for domestic water, I lose more than just lighting. Most approaches simply use a backup generator. I pulled the (for me) critical systems to a sub panel and normally use grid power. When the grid drops out, transfer is immediate and those systems run on batteries longer than any outage we have experienced. An EV battery would have more than enough capacity, but I preferred the LiFePo4 cell solution. V2H technology for cars would perform a similar function, but probably without the automated transfer.
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My house also is shaded, so solar is useless, unless I want to cut down a lot of trees. How green would that be?

My house uses say 20 kwh per day, so using a car-sized battery backup would give me a day.

A portable backup like this one would give me a few hours power for several thousand dollars. This would work for our monthly outage of several hours.

I guess there are frequent tree limbs that fall, but the repairs go pretty fast. I got a small UPS backup for my wifi and security system, so I need not reset them afterwards.

I have sometimes mused about better backup, but for Hurricane Helene my city lost power for a week, and it was in no way the worst affected. Thousands of trees went down but flooding was modest.

If I would lay out thousands for a backup system to last a week, the best option for me might be a gas generator. For a few thousand dollars it would supply power indefinitely, as I have piped gas in my home.

Of course, the horse has already bolted. When will we next be in the direct path of such a hurricane?

 

[JToddK]

Seems unlikely that any jurisdiction would only trigger electrical permits on a structural penetration?

Agree, but I only read and follow the stated requirements; I don't write them. My jurisdiction is in the process of revising their requirements and will follow UCC. Both the prior requirements and, from what I read, the UCC, seem to be more concerned with structural. Propane, gas, manufactured housing, or pools, of course, are different, but my AHJ has been quite forgiving on permit requirements for simple electrical work if no structure is involved.

 

[JToddK]

V2G only makes sense if you rent the car or in emergency situations. Do you really want to wear your car (battery) to power your house?

I agree. I guess I could imagine the car as part of a larger solar collection and storage system - the car acts as the battery component and excess local generation is returned to the grid. Might work in net metering environments with lots of generation capacity and no other local storage. Not for me.

 

[rollermonkey]

20 kWh/day?
Yikes. We typically used 6 on average for the house, then 8-9 with my car charging daily. Wife plugs in once a week, so that one day pulls the average way up.

 

[cuke2u]

20 kWh/day?
Yikes. We typically used 6 on average for the house, then 8-9 with my car charging daily. Wife plugs in once a week, so that one day pulls the average way up.

Usage would depend upon heating and cooking supplies, size of house and number of people.

 

[JToddK]

If I would lay out thousands for a backup system to last a week, the best option for me might be a gas generator. For a few thousand dollars it would supply power indefinitely, as I have piped gas in my home.

I do have a 500 gal. propane tank on site that I use for hot water, stovetop and to supplement the heat pump. By the time I added a decent size generator, upgraded the propane feed and ran service to my electrical panel, the cost was twice what it cost me for battery backup. There was a 30% tax credit to boot.
My intent was to maintain important systems, give me time to evaluate repair estimates and make a decision as to stay or "get outta Dodge." With more than two days of backup (29kWh) and instant activation and recovery, that meets my needs. A V2H setup using the car would do much the same.

 

[i4m50Norway]

20 kWh/day?
Yikes. We typically used 6 on average for the house, then 8-9 with my car charging daily. Wife plugs in once a week, so that one day pulls the average way up.

On a Cold Morning in a normal house (approx 200 m2) with decent isolation (20 cm walls, 30 cm ceilings) - 10 - 15 KW per Hour, but in Norway, we only use electrical: heating, warm water, cooking, no-gas - all norwegian gas exported to UK and continental Europe. oil-heating not allowed any more, but wood is good to have as a backup, in the very unlikely situation of power-outage.

 

[ToitjieC]

I am amazed at the low electricity usage many of the contributors have (i4m50Norway excluded), as I presume they all have at least one EV. We use, on average, 36 kWh of electricity per day, all of which is generated by solar panels with battery backup. Our geysers have solar glycol panels and our stove is gas, but the one in the live-in maid's quarters is electric, and so is our oven. We have a BMW i4M50 and a BMW iX 50, which probably account for close to 20kWh per day.

 

[toddggg]

To be fair it doesn't sound like you/your house is the typical use case... Live-in maid?? What is your square footage or whatever units you use?

 

[ToitjieC]

To be fair it doesn't sound like you/your house is the typical use case... Live-in maid?? What is your square footage or whatever units you use?

The house, including the three garages and the servant's flat, is 340 sq metres, which is average for the estate in which I live. Live-in maids are quite common in South Africa. We have had a live in house maid for all of the 53 years we have been married. The current one is from Zimbabwe, where the economy does not exist at all. Oh, and we have a gardener that comes in twice a week to cut the lawn and maintain the garden. He is a professional gardener and a South African. Our economy may be a disaster since the local population took over the government of the country in 1993, but much of the infrastructure created before they took over is still surviving, in spite of them not understanding the concept of maintenance. Furthermore it is cheaper to live here than in most of the rest of the world. And the weather is fantastic! And we love people that come and visit the country.