Possible to access the traction battery for use with an inverter to power other items.?

[adk123]

With other electric cars people have devised ways to tap into the car’s battery to drive tools,lights, etc. or to provide some emergency power for their homes in the case of a power outage. Has this been done with the i3?

 

[jadnashuanh]

There was a proposal from 2012 to set a standard to allow V2G (Vehicle to Grid) protocols https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2014/02/f8/v2g_power_flow_rpt.pdf but I have not seen any further development on that front at least in the USA. In Japan, at least one company makes an inverter, but it only seems to work on CHAdeMO vehicles. It communicates with compatible vehicles to enable the output. It is not designed to power a house, but that was awhile ago...they may have stuff now. The idea is to help use EVs to stabilize the grid when plugged in.

Anyone seen or heard of anything further? It's not all that straightforward trying to get power safely out of a vehicle, at least at higher power levels from that high voltage battery, at least without degrading the battery pack (which BMW would be annoyed with as their battery warranty isn't setup for that kind of use). I do think that, eventually, we may see V2G become a common thing, but probably not with this administration. Until mandated, I don't expect the manufacturers will be interested, except for maybe a low power load (a few already have 120vac outlets).

 

[Tacfoto]

In an emergency even the 12V sockets can be useful to charge a phone or similar. And a 12VDC to 110V AC inverter is easy to find.

Is the 12V socket strictly powered by the 12V battery when not driving? How does the car make 12V?

 

[alohart]

Is the 12V socket strictly powered by the 12V battery when not driving?

Only for a few minutes. However, one can leave an i3 in the drive readiness state by buckling the driver's seatbelt behind prior to exiting or by exiting through the passenger's door.

How does the car make 12V?

The DC-DC converter converts the battery pack's high voltage to ~14.3 V. It connects the high-voltage battery pack to the 12 V system which charges the 12 V battery. The DC-DC converter turns on as necessary to prevent the 12 V battery from discharging too much in drive readiness mode, when actively charging (probably not when the battery pack is full), when the doors, hatch, or frunk are unlocked, and when the car is in the radio ready state.