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I am constantly dismayed that there aren't more electric and PHEVs that are set up to serve as backup power supplies. It seems like such a simple and obvious thing to do. With a big enough network of these we could solve a big part of the storage problem for sustainable energy technologies.

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The hard part is that car batteries have limited cycles before they must be replaced at HUGE cost. For personal backup during power outages it would work, but I have a hard time believing that many car owners would be willing to put the wear and tear on their battery.

EVs use more than an average home's entire daily electricity budget to go 50 miles. In an emergency you could run your lights, fridge, and water heater for weeks on an EV battery. It's really not much wear and tear.

Cars are an immensely inefficient platform.

That seems like a use that Ford is already embracing with things like the lightning.

My comment was more in line with using cars as energy storage infrastructure. I think most car owners don’t want to use their car batteries as grid infrastructure.

It's being wasted by governments.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1SEfwoqKRU8

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