Before you come for me, I know that you, our beloved Car Throttle audience, are the type to be sceptical of electric vehicles. I often am too. For a start, I can’t charge them at home, which means I have to rely on the utter shambles that is the public network in the UK when there’s one in on test.
On a personal level, I believe that mass-mining cobalt for their batteries is a facade for the first-world cleansing itself while ignoring the wider problem of global emissions, EVs are more often than not heavyweight blobs and quite frankly, I like engines. Ok, we’re on the same page, right? Good.
Some of that (mostly the charging) is why when we were offered to run a Genesis GV70 for six months, I decided the best course of action was to take a petrol-powered version of the SUV. Even if the 26mpg it’s been getting since we took delivery a few months ago has been making me cry myself to sleep most nights.
However, keen to give me an opportunity to try an often-overlooked trick its electric cars offer, the manufacturer invited me along to a field in the middle of nowhere, literally a field in Exmoor, for a spot of stargazing. A strange invitation, sure, but it was a night away from the PlayStation, a chance to swap the GV70 for an electric GV60 for a few days and I was sent a link to nearby EV chargers I was promised would work.
What was the point of this beyond a night away? Well, to try vehicle-to-load tech – something I’ve long been aware of but never once thought to give a try.
In case you’re not familiar with it, it effectively turns the battery in the car into one big power generator. Handy for running appliances in an emergency or, in this case, to go look at some stars with some extra comfort.
When I say middle of nowhere, I mean literally that. The destination was a bit of the Exmoor National Park which, upon arrival, was a sea of darkness. Only for then a rather lovely set of lights to reveal a cosy camp – power for that coming from a car pre-hooked up.
‘My’ GV60 was utilised to power the lamps surrounding us and a couple of others providing juice for a coffee machine, and charge for heated camping seats. Possibly overkill, given with an extension cable I suspect one car could handle it all, but it’s cool to see. Unlike the stars, which it turns out it was too foggy to spot
All V2L it takes to use an adapter (granted, a Genesis one is an £880 option. Give it a few years for Alibaba to catch up…) and enough charge to not kill the car dead. Is it the most exciting thing in the world? No. Is it neat? Certainly.
It’s good to know that once we’re all forced into driving appliances we’ll at least have the option to head out to the remote world with a few friends and could quite easily power up a camping trip without the need for extra equipment or cost, and knocking all of about half a mile of range off the car. Or more seriously, provide a usable backup source of power in an emergency.
Oh, and that EV charger did work, too. It’s good to know at least one does, although I’m not giving my petrol GV70 back yet…
