The first fully electric Genesis is here in the form of the Electrified G80 and, yes, that is its official name. Other than a blocked-off grille incorporating the charging port, it looks like the regular G80 inside and out and gets a frankly underwhelming 265 miles of manufacturer-claimed range.
What is remarkable, however, is the fact that this car features Vehicle to Load (V2L) charging, turning this car into a 3.6-kW mobile generator that’s able to power stuff like hairdryers, PlayStations, and perhaps even top up another electric car. 3.6 kW, by the way, is quite a lot of electricity, all things considered. For comparison, the hybrid Ford F-150’s standard Pro Power Onboard generator is only good for 2.4 kW, an amount that the Blue Oval says is enough to power the tools and saws necessary to build a wooden deck, or the loudspeakers, popcorn machine, and projector needed to run a neighborhood drive-in movie for 85 hours starting with a full tank of gas. It can also make for a pretty good mobile kitchen.
How long would an electric G80-powered movie night or pop-up taco stand last remains to be seen—how many showings of Zack Snyder’s Justice League will it last for? But in any case, it’s kind of amazing that Genesis thought to incorporate this into its first EV at all especially considering Tesla still voids warranties if owners use their vehicles “as a stationary power source.” It should be a standard thing on all electrified cars going forward and we can’t think of any good, practical reasons why it shouldn’t or wouldn’t be…except, y’know, cost.
It’s easy to think of typical use cases for an onboard generator on something like the F-150 which has a regular presence on construction sites and the like, but I’m not sure what the average Genesis G80 driver would do with their onboard watts. Dyson air purifier to make the outdoors less…outdoorsy? Nespresso machine from home so they don’t have to endure the dreck served to Poors at highway service stations? If you think of any good ones, sound off in the comments below.
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