Weird Question...
 

Couldn't car manufacturers build in electrical outlets within their designs, which could run off of the engine?

At that point most people would have an emergency back-up generator in case of disasters, no?

Too easy?

How long do you think your car battery could power your home?

I'm talking about your car doubling as a back-up generator, not battery power.

Too much risk of an idiot running their car parked in a garage attached to the house.

I think most cars use DC current. Some have AC outlets, but if you put too much draw on them then they'll blow the fuse. I'm not sure why this is the case.

Could always use a power inverter but they won't power much besides a laptop or small tv.

How is that different than ANY current gas powered generator?

Barely a laptop. We've blown so many fuses trying to charge laptops in our cars.

200+ horsepower and 4 wheels?

everyone could already be driving electric cars

the problem is the oil companies are GOD

they control everything and they wont allow that

It would be super easy to do... Some Toyota's do this.

This isn't even about electric cars. Gas powered back-up generators are what people use in emergencies. Why can't your current, gas powered, vehicle, double as an emergency back-up generator?

I'm sure this add-on feature would be desirable, and profitable to the manufacturers.

Who wouldn't want this feature on their car?

I wonder how many families would dies as a result of exhaust fumes in their homes.

I would imagine it IS easy! Seems like a total no-brainer to me.

I would imagine Honda doing this soon too, as they make generators AND cars.

It's like chocolate and peanut butter!

What the fuck does that mean?!

PEOPLE USE GAS POWERED GENERATORS NOW!

Hellllooooooo....

i cant afford a car... :(

Ok, first... people with generators should run them outdoors or at the very least in a shed or garage not attached to the house and ventilated.

Secondly, and this is a tough one that nobody touched on in this thread, which surprises me but don't...

CARS RUN ON LARGE ENGINES!
Imagine the cost of fuel idling your car for 12 hours to power a 400w AC inverter that MIGHT keep your fridge running.

GENERATORS RUN ON SMALL ENGINES!
5-10HP!!! And they are capable of operating 800-1500w AC That can run your fridge a lamp a tv a computer a skillet....

Using a lot of gas is a downside I suppose, but otherwise I still don't see the problem.

You wind up with a more powerful generator... so what?

You can power more of your blacked out home with a bigger generator.

And why jump to the conclusion that the car has to be running INSIDE the house anyway? How about out in the yard, or in the driveway, or wherever? How about a few fucking extension cords?

Strange you should mention that..

When Katrina hit.. I had a power converter in my Mercedes for my amps.. When everyone's cellphones died.. I had a eureka moment.. and bam.. fully charged cells. It was a life saver indeed.

np, get an inverter... run stuff all the time like that..

A car left running outside will be driven away by the first person who walks past attracted by the fact that the house is the only one for miles around with every light on. Then the car insurance company will laugh at you down the phone. So to stop it being nicked people will run it inside with the garage door shut.

Unless it's winter or you have a diesel I think heat will be a problem.

I was once told by an electrical engineer that a car could be charged with a 2 HP motor meaning that you could run for hours on a couple gallons of gas if you had a small gas generator charging the battery cells while you drove or when you parked.

Not sure what else calculated into this however, this was from a NASA engineer at Ames which most of what he said was way over my head.

Probably not enough demand for them. But you can get attachments that you hook up to your cigarette lighter and/or battery and have AC power.

with some (more luxury) cars you can order 110/220V power outlets, but since it's coming from 12V it doesn't work for much more than charging cellphones or laptops. you can't keep your fridge running like that... ;)

Most cars, especially US motors are big 5ltr... Id rather buy a back up generator than work out costs of running my car just to run my laptop personally :(

I've run our office from my car when I used to live in a small town whew the power often went out during storms. A car burns roughly one gallon every three or four hours. Two gallons to get a day's work done isn't bad. If you wanted to go big with it, a high output alternator can put out 300 amps. A standard alternator will have no problem with a laptop and a few other things. Even a refrigerator isn't out of the question.

It has occurred to me that our office uses APC UPS systems, which run on 12V lead acid batteries. The car's system is designed to charge a 12V lead acid battery, so it's a perfect fit. Just run a wire from the car battery or "lighter" jack to the UPS battery. While you're at it, you could run another wire to the UPS from a solar panel.

The big UPS is the key. It'll run off wall power of course, or run things from it's internal battery, or convert other power sources like a car or solar.

Replies in this thread nailed it. People will run their cars in their garages & kill themselves. Plus using a car engine to do something a 10HP engine can do is grossly wasteful. The tree huggers would go apeshit.

Trust me, if i knew cars. I would have done this already. Then again if i knew batterys, i would build a battery that doesn't die. I think there is much more behind them both than you and i think or it would have happened already. :)

A Toyota Tacoma comes with a 115V/400-watt deck-mounted power outlet.

Just install a simple 12 volt/120 volt power inverter some new cars have them and most RVs have them.
With one in a car you need to keep the motor running if your using it for something powerful like a power drill. My RV has one 5000 watt inverter running off four deep cell batteries so I can run it all night. I charge them with solar panels on the roof during the day.
$30 to $500 and up
Small inverters plug in a cigarette lighters and over 400 watts need to be hard wired to batteries.


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