Chevy Volt as toad and battery system for RV

[Rbertalotto]

How about using a Chevy Volt as a toad and tapping into the enormous lithium ion battery as part of your 12v system. Built in generator as you drive around exploring. Enough juice to run your AC.
GM should work on this. They would make a killing!

[Sam_Spade]

sdianel wrote:
I agree with the idea. I would like to see an RV manufacturer and Chevrolet get together and design an RV with a plug in the back and Chevrolet build a toad that would be towable 4-down, plugged into the outlet on the rear of the coach so that it charges as you go down the road.

I already have something like that.

But my "toad" is in front and it's a Ford.
It is usually called a class C. :B

BOTH sets of batteries charge as I go down the road.
And I could use the "toad" to charge the coach batteries if I wanted to; it actually charges faster but uses about 6X the amount of gas that the generator does.

[sdianel_-acct_c]

I agree with the idea. I would like to see an RV manufacturer and Chevrolet get together and design an RV with a plug in the back and Chevrolet build a toad that would be towable 4-down, plugged into the outlet on the rear of the coach so that it charges as you go down the road.

[gbopp]

Nissan is working on a similar project to power homes.

The Department of Defense is also doing tests.

Maybe there is something to the OP's idea? 🙂

[Hondavalk]

Looks like Ford is interested in the RV industry. :B:B:B

[gbopp]

I don't know if it would work or not. I think it's a good idea even if it is not practical.
Ideas are how things get started. Thanks for posting your idea, it gives us something to think about. 🙂

[CA_Traveler]

X2 If there was a significant market for toads we'd see more not less.

[DownTheAvenue]

Rbertalotto wrote:
How about using a Chevy Volt as a toad and tapping into the enormous lithium ion battery as part of your 12v system. Built in generator as you drive around exploring. Enough juice to run your AC.
GM should work on this. They would make a killing!

Absurd! Even though we like to think otherwise, the RV consumer's use of automobiles as toads is such a small part of their market, that it really does not drive engineering decisions. Government safety and fuel economy requirements as well as marketing (price points and design) are the controlling factors.

GM would never recoup the research and development costs redesigning the Volt for RV adaptations!

[JiminDenver]

I would think pulling it charging the battery like that would kill your MPG.

[sch911]

The Volt uses a 18kWh 300V LiOn battery system. Even if you could design a DC to DC voltage conversion system the battery contains internally a set of high current contactors that can only be energized with a 12V input signal and a set of CAN Bus commands from a Diagnostic tool that tells it to turn on. All proprietary stuff I'm afraid.

Having said all of that RV use of LiOn battery systems will someday be a reality. There are a couple of companies working on systems right now....

[Sam_Spade]

The HV hybrid system has HUGE capacity compared to your 12 V requirements and would have everything fully charged in a matter of minutes.....probably.

But this is an interesting idea to start a discussion.
Volts have been adapted, I think, as emergency home power.
The folks here http://gm-volt.com/forum/ might be interested.

[Rbertalotto]

In fact, it probably could be designed so as you tow it, regenative braking , could be charging the battery.
Converting 100s of volts to 12v is easy. Every RV has a converter doing that now.

The more I think about this, the better legs it has.

[WNYBob]

"GM should work on this. They would make a killing!"

This is hilarious, an auto company interested in the RV industry!

[_tpc_]

I would guess that the transmission is connected to the system that generates the charge to charge the battery, which would probably make it useless as a toad since I think most require that the transmission not be engaged? (Honestly, I don't know).

Aside from that, that enormous lithium battery you are referring to, does not output at just 12V to drive the vehicle, more like 100's of volts. At the end of the day I am guessing a gas powered generator of some sort is easier to use, probably more efficient, and costs a whole lot less than a volt.

Its a good thought, but I don't think the engineering it would take to make it work would be worth the small blip in sales they might get. That car is fairly pricey already.