When the grid or the water goes out, a charged EV can run the essentials at home through V2L, carry clean water, and recharge from the sun. Plan your module here — then source every part through three routes, before you need it.
A V2L adapter in the charge port gives you a household socket — typically 2.2 to 3.6 kW. Run a fridge, lights, the router, phones and medical devices through a portable RCD and a heavy-duty lead. Start appliances one at a time; a fridge compressor briefly draws far more than it runs on.
Never plug a car into a wall socket to feed the house. A licensed electrician can fit an inlet and a manual changeover switch so chosen circuits run from the car safely.
Keep every car near full while the grid is up. In an outage, a folding solar array feeds an LFP power station that runs daytime loads, and a portable EV charger set to 8–10 A trickles any surplus back into the car. Public DC chargers may still work outside the outage area.
One car can top up another through its V2L socket and a portable charger, at a loss of roughly a fifth — useful only to concentrate energy before evacuating.
Food-grade 20 L containers or collapsible bladders carry drinking water — 3 L per person per day, about 10 L with basic hygiene. A collapsible tank under a downpipe catches rain. A gravity filter (0.1 µm hollow fibre) plus disinfection treats rain and creek water.
Filters do not remove salt. Seawater needs a reverse-osmosis watermaker. Keep water within your car's payload: 1 L weighs 1 kg.
Many EVs carry no spare wheel — pack a 12 V compressor and puncture kit. Strap every load down. Fit a carbon monoxide alarm if anyone cooks with gas indoors, and keep a first-aid kit in each car.
Hold one car at 100% as the evacuation vehicle and do not use it for the house.
Choose your car and what you need to keep running. Figures are estimates: real results depend on the car's discharge cut-off, the adapter rating, heat, and how loads start.
Your module
Indicative totals are the sum of the price ranges found at Australian sellers on 1 November 2026, one of each item. Electrician work is quoted separately.
Australian-spec support for vehicle-to-load (a 230 V socket from the car) and vehicle-to-home. Check your own car's settings and handbook — features differ by variant and software.
| Vehicle | V2L | Output | How | V2H | Note |
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Prices are indicative as at 1 November 2026 and change often; stock disappears first in a declared emergency. Seller links are for reference — WE DRIVER earns nothing from them, except that as an Amazon Associate, WE DRIVER earns from qualifying purchases made via Amazon.com.au links on this page, which never changes the price you pay. Electrical work on a home's fixed wiring must be done by a licensed electrician. This page is general information, not electrical or medical advice.
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