All the hurricane posts far outdo me here, but here’s what my 2013 Leaf powered this week.
I work alongside a city as an engineer and PM on streetlight and EV charging projects. Every few years we get new models of streetlights in that we test to make sure they perform ‘as advertised’. The testing takes about an hour per light brand, and we test multiple brands over the course of a few nights in a big parking lot.
This time, we rented boom lifts that were supposed to have onboard power to plug the lights into, only to find out a few hours before testing that the power didn’t work. Luckily I had my 1500w inverter along just in case. Lots of extension cords later, and we had all 4 streetlights running off the Leaf. Over the course of 7 hours, the lights used 14% of the 40kwh battery, averaging a draw of about 550w at 120v.
The testing involves taking light output readings and extensive discussion between engineers. The last thing we wanted to be doing was trying to talk over generators. Instead, we had reliable, clean, and quiet power all night. Not a single noise beyond the discussion of the engineers. It was perfect!
by sctbke
4 Comments
That’s very cool! I use an inverter with my 2013 Model S P85 to mainly charge my camper trailer EcoFlow LFP batteries. I am looking into getting a DCDC charger such as the “EcoFlow 800W Alternator Charger” to improve efficiency. This device also sends power back to the vehicle’s 12V if needed.
What was the winning light?
Had to look it up, didn’t know that an inverter or generator was even on option on those lifts. The ones I used never had one. Think some of the ones we rented had a pass through so there was a plug at the bottom that would pass power to the outlet in the bucket but that was it.
Love to see leafs still being relevant here.