Filling-up Mach-E with gasoline

[gordonf238]

So the other day, just for sh*ts and giggles, I wanted to see if MME would charge on gas.

I have a Ryobi gasoline generator in my garage which I seldom use. It has a 220V 30A outlet. Now unfortunately, the Ford mobile charger that comes with the MME will only work on a 50A circuit or higher, so no bueno. Luckily, I also have a Tesla mobile charger, which comes with a variety of power connections, and DOES work on anything from 120V -> 220V, (30A and 50A). Thank you Tesla, and Ford - you should be integrating this flexibility into your mobile charger as well.

With that said, once the generator was powered-up, I connected the Tesla mobile charger into the generator's 220V 30A outlet. Now, this being a Tesla mobile charger, the plug wouldn't actually connect to our MME. This is where the Tesla -> CCS adapter comes in handy. Not just for my little experiment, but anytime you're left stranded, and the only charger nearby is a Tesla one.

So on those occasions when power does go out, and you need to charge your MME using a gasoline generator, the process does in fact work. If I had purchased a more powerful generator, it probably would have offered a 220V 50A plug, making this process relatively simpler.

However, make no mistake about it - this is an utterly wasteful (and loud) way of charging your MME. Still, if and when the need arises, the possibility is there. I was able to charge at a 24-amp rate (toughly 12 miles/hr) while annoying the heck out of my neighbors.

Items used:

Ryobi generator Model #RY906500S

NEMA L14-30P to 10-30R 240V 30 Amp adapter

Tesla Mobile Connector

Lectron - Tesla to J1772 Adapter


Cheers

 

[Mark Hassa]

My wife works in the film industry. When working on remote sites, there are huge generators brought in to power everything from the movie trailers to cameras and lighting. One thing you will also see is people with EVs that also plug in for a charge (My wife included sometimes).

 

[luckie]

Funny story that you likely already heard about. The internet has an uptick of anti-EV folx sharing "news" reporting that ALL of the DCFC fast chargers and Tesla SuperChargers in the USA run off of big gasoline generators, with photos of course . One poor Mach-e driver recently posted this information to the Mach e club forum as if it were true and confident they were helping alert all others.

 

[Mach-Lee]

Lol, I wonder how many miles per gallon you got…

 

[Jimrpa]

So, for all those V2L fans, when they run down their car batteries after several days of smugly powering their homes from their cars, they can simply recharge their cars using a generator they bought at Home Depot, then continue running their home from their cars?
What am I missing here?

 

[Ljames]

Was thinking about testing this with my MY22 that I got in Nov. I saw a Tesla video where he needed to install a grounding/bonding plug. Did you have to do anything "special" or just plug it in per normal.

 

[hawkeye3point1]

I do this to burn off fuel in the generator when power is restored after a storm.

 

[gordonf238]

Was thinking about testing this with my MY22 that I got in Nov. I saw a Tesla video where he needed to install a grounding/bonding plug. Did you have to do anything "special" or just plug it in per normal.

Just plug and play. The generator has a ground plug, although the generator itself is not grounded. This would likely be something that the mobile charger would check and detect, but in my case, it worked fine.

 

[RickMachE]

Funny story that you likely already heard about. The internet has an uptick of anti-EV folx sharing "news" reporting that ALL of the DCFC fast chargers and Tesla SuperChargers in the USA run off of big gasoline generators, with photos of course . One poor Mach-e driver recently posted this information to the Mach e club forum as if it were true and confident they were helping alert all others.

Yup. And he still believes he's right. https://www.[Banned Site].com/threads/most-of-you-are-just-beginners.5627/#post-56360

 

[RickMachE]

I guess I'm scratching my head as to a) why you thought this wouldn't work, b) why you thought it necessary to prove to yourself and c)why you then thought it worthy of explaining in detail to us...

Electricity is electricity. If this amperage is there, and there isn't a grounding issue, of course it works. You can also plug it into a Lightning.

 

[superdave80]

Lol, I wonder how many miles per gallon you got…

I actually did the math on another thread, and you would still get north of 30 MPG (varies based on numbers used). But I'm sure the emissions from a portable generator are probably far worse than an equivalent, modern ICE.

 

[gordonf238]

I actually did the math on another thread, and you would still get north of 30 MPG (varies based on numbers used). But I'm sure the emissions from a portable generator are probably far worse than an equivalent, modern ICE.

Hmm, you sure about that?

This generator that I've used is rated for 6500 watts continuous output (that's 100% power). Charging the Mach-E at 220V and 24A = 5280 watts (81% generator power output).

The generator will run for 10 hours at 50% load, so let's just ballpark it and say at 80% power it would run for 7 hours. Gas tank capacity on it is 6 gallons, so 6 gallons = 7hrs of run time.

At the charge rate that I've observed (12 miles/hr), that yields about 84 miles of range, while burning 6 gallons of fuel. Those numbers translate to around 14mpg (which seems more realistic).

Not great by any means, but this process in itself has a ton of inefficiencies and energy loss.

 

[Maquis]

“The things anti-EV memes are made of!”

 

[ArthurDOB]

I love that there are so many people on this forum who did their schoolwork and can prove it by showing their work.

I'm a teacher

 

[Logal727]

Funny story that you likely already heard about. The internet has an uptick of anti-EV folx sharing "news" reporting that ALL of the DCFC fast chargers and Tesla SuperChargers in the USA run off of big gasoline generators, with photos of course . One poor Mach-e driver recently posted this information to the Mach e club forum as if it were true and confident they were helping alert all others.

Wow how dumb could you be? At least say they are technically coal or natural gas powered in a lot of areas. But gas generators? Lmao

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