Can You Charge A Tesla With A Portable Generator? We Give it aTry! | Adventure X Ep.6 

With regards to the rough running on the generator, make sure that fuel vent on the filler cap is in the open position - if that is closed I think it starts building a vacuum in the tank and the fuel stops flowing.. Found that out the hard way on mine :-)

Cant believe his 1 complaint is that they gave too much oil....

2:21 "Alex is our #1 leading expert" 3:08 Alex(The Expert): "this seems to be some kind of tool kit"🤔🤷🏽‍♂️ 😂😂😂😂😂

18 minutes and they didn't even answer the question? lame.

This video needed to be condensed down to 5 minutes. I do not need to waste my time watching someone unbox a generator. Respect your viewers time and stay on point.

did we just watch a video on how a generator doesn't work??

Have you looked for a 240v generator with a higher rated charging cable?

So after 18 minutes we still didn’t find out the mpg. Nothing to see here. Move along.

I love these videos, actual gas to electricity. They're hilarious, but really they are most likely the best representation of gas burning to power created. 👍👍👍👍👍👍

This is EXACTLY how we will do it in Nigeria.

Time to charge it next time with a portable nuclear reactor ;)

I think that you have made a mistake with the generator...you need to run it through a break-in period before you put a heavy load on it. That is why it was barfing out on it. Most new inverter generators need a 5 hour breaking period, after which you change the oil, and then you should be good to go...and as they age, they actually get better for the first few months (depending on use, of course) before they reach their peak capacity. I think that you need to do the proper break-in period and then change the oil, and try your test again.

If putting the correct amount of oil in a generator is too complicated for you. That is the sign you probably should not be attempting to operate it. Which is really sad in my book.

This just sounds like a normal car with extra steps..

Just pull up the spec sheet of your generator. You can already ballpark how much charge you can get per gallon of oil, that's just third grade math. Assuming the GP2200i is consuming around 0.75 gph (full load) when delivering the 12 A current, and knowing the basic tesla model X has a 237 Ah battery... It would take 237/12 = 19.75 hours to fully charge the battery. Let's round it up to 20 hours. Running for 20 hours, the GP2200i would consumme 0,75 x 20 = 15 gallons to a full charge, that's a 300 miles range on a basic model x. 300/15 = 20 mpg. To conclude, expect 20 mpg with a 2 kW generator.

if u can use the grounding plug, the honda eu22i looks far more healthier than that generac thingy

Generac❓Endless money pit❗️🤣 Should've got the Honda❗️😜👍

From this video, I learned that Honda or Yamaha is the only 2000w generator to buy. Generac gets an F- in this test.

I think Tom Mabe should take a Tesla and put a LOUD generator on it's roof, come rolling in a parking lot next to someone, say he's trying to save the planet by driving electric, but it ran out so he's charging it. Lol

You got that backwards... EVERY generator produces a pure sine wave. The only source of a square or modified sine wave is a cheap inverter.

WTF did I just watch? The shock of the charging rate using s standard 110v wall outlet in 2019. Calling this 'test' turning a Tesla into a "plug-in Hybrid". Let's see how much "MPG" we get, from adding one gallon of gas to a tiny generator to charge a Model X???? Sure, in an *emergency* , you _could_ do this - tiny generator trying to charge one of the most power hungry electric cars that's also towing a trailer. But this just comes off as an exercise in providing the worst case scenario, to paint a tainted picture about charging electric cars. To what end? For the clicks? How can a car channel that seems well educated in all other aspects of automotive life, suddenly act like dinguses anytime featuring an electric car?

3 miles an HOUR charging LOL

All you really needed was a calculator

Millennials" it has too much oil" , generation X " cool it came with oil !"

filling small engines with the right amount of oil is easy. tip the motor on about a 20 degree angle forward when filling. Fill until its completely full to the top. When you lean it back level it should be pretty close. After a few times you will know the exact angle to get it perfect every time.

Generator choice advice: My CAT INV2000 charges at 12a without inching its way up from 7a and without a cheater plug. Also, My Pulsar G10KBN (10,000 watt) generator has a 50 amp plug which chargers My Model S at 23 mph also without a cheater plug. I ran both for an hour with no issues just to see if it was doable. I'm glad I saw this video cause now I know it may not work past 3 hrs. Thx

If you want to find amps you do opposite. Divide watts by voltage = amps. This is important so you dont blow fuses.

Had TFL done a bit more research on the topic.... the episode wouldn't be so wasted.

These millennials kill me..."it came with too much oil". Dear God man, read and measure. Oil is sold in quarts

17 hours of charging to go 120 miles? So you have to sit still for 17 hours just to get another 120 miles does anyone else see the insanity in this? Your lifetime is precious.

I have a similar generator (mine is branded Westinghouse, but is probably made by the same Chinese manufacturer)... The first thing I did was change out the cheap Chinese spark plug and installed a quality Japanese made NGK plug. The generator ran much smoother with no surging.

I love the idea of powering an electric car with fossil fuels.

how about a better generator that outputs a real 240 volt. do you need a 3 prong or 4 prong? Would that work better?

Some cities in Japan have had fleets of diesel trucks for quite a few years for rescuing stranded motorists; they are diesel trucks equipped with diesel generators.

Not jumper cables, battery charging cables!

You may get better fuel economy with a larger generator because it is not working at peak load.

See you later tfl. This 14 minute long ad for a GD generator was ridiculous.

Those General generators are junk, I took mine back twice and finally got my money back and I bought a Honda ! No problems with the Honda at all 👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽

I Recommend a jenny with 240 output! Far better and quicker charging! You guys should try a Super Capacitor, with 4KW of LiFePo4 200ah batteries, and solar panels to charge it!

All EVs need a Honda EU2200i for backup, NOT GENERAC JUNK. BUT, you must first trick the charger detection circuit with my special detection manipulating circuit.

I asked Rivian people about carrying generator if you outdoor traveling in woods. So as per engineers it is not an option. I will keep my Jeep for now.

@9:00 “to get a clean sine wave you essentially need an inverter generator”. Face palm. A real generator makes a clean pure sine wave. An inverter generator turns AC into DC and then inverters it back to AC, which is what allows it to run slower than 3600 rpm that the cheap 2-pole generators run at to make 60 Hz. So a real generator will work, or pure sine wave inverter type.

This is the future, EVs with gasoline generators to stop range anxiety

One quibble: when you say the generator needs to put out at least 1440 watts to charge the Tesla, that's actually "to charge it as fast as the wall outlet." It would be interesting to see how little current you could feed a Tesla and have it actually charge.

This was my dream, put a trailer behind the car, and put a big smoky diesel generator. Charge it while you drive it. Superb:)))

I remember when your videos were about 5 to 10 minutes long and could actually watch them ....

As soon as I saw Generac I knew the issues were about to begin! Might as well have bought a Harbor Freight blow apart one! Honda baby..... HONDA!

I am tired of RU-vid being populated by low IQ videos. Make it more scientific and shorter.

That's like force feeding a vegan a big Mac lol

The video: Gas powered Tesla Elon: You weren't supposed to do that

Just for fun you should see about a 240volt generator.

Go to 7:40 to skip past the generator unboxing.

Yeah complaining about getting too much oil. No it isn't more work. With all these little generators you fill till it reaches the lip of the fill neck. Nice and easy now put the extra away for the next oil change which should be in a couple of hrs for the first change

Next test solar panel charging... if you fill the entire cargo space with solar panels... how quickly can it charge?? .. should be able to exceed the small generator here.

11:05 so true! 30 employees walking around but no one can hear the phone ring :O

Wow I can't believe he complained about getting extra oil

fun fact: human walking speed is 3.1 mph

I feel sorry for your 110v system. 220 is the way to go. Btw, just buy a honda generator, they are the industry standard. Instead of a "cheater" plug, can't you use the generators own earth and a pole to the ground?

Answer: 11 MPG Quick maths: Since I can't find data for the 2200 Watt generator you're using, let's assume you use the Generac 6866 2000 Watt model with a 1.06 gallon tank. Pulling 1464 watts on a generator rated for 2000 watts is 73% load. Manufacturer says 50% load runs for 5.7 hours and a 25% load runs for 7.7 hours. Assume the consumption rate is linear, then runtime = -8*load + 9.7. At 73% load the generator would run for 3.9 hours. Charging 3 miles an hour will give you 11.7 miles on 1.06 gallons, or 11.04 miles per gallon.

Tommy, 2 comments: 1. Your generator is defective! The generator should not be misfiring and stalling, regardless if you are drawing 7 A, 12 A, or its maximum rated load of 14 A. If you were to overload it, a circuit breaker on the generator should pop. Note that generator (Generac GP2200i) is rated to handle short term loads of up to 18 A in order to start spinning relatively large electric motors and is rated to continuously handle a 14 A. 2. The only type of generator that produces a pure sine wave is a NON-inverter type of generator. These will rev at a constant 3600 rpm (or 1800 rpm) and work efficiently only when working hard. Even with almost no load they still have to rev at 3600 rpm, which means they are noisy and relative to the amount of electricity produced they burn a lot of fuel at low loads. Inverter type generators (like yours) vary the rpm to generate just enough electrical power and then use an inverter to convert that electrical power to a consistent 120 V AC with a 60 Hz artificial sine wave. ALL inverter type generators produce an artificial sine wave (using an inverter). Higher quality inverters do a good job and can produce reasonably clean artificial sine waves, but less expensive ones often produce horrible sine waves and the profile isn't clean enough to power devices that rely on the sine wave to function properly. I don't know if your generator produces a clean enough sine wave to keep the Tesla happy, but with the generator's engine misfiring the sine wave will be discontinuous or the voltage will fluctuate and the Tesla definitely won't like either of those. Since it did work for a while, more than likely fixing the generator's engine will get it charging the Tesla. ECO mode on the generator will likely only save fuel at low loads. If you fix the generator it would be interesting to see if ECO mode makes any difference.

So, you've got a generator that's using around 0.5 gallons per hour to charge a Tesla at a rate of 1 mile range per hour... which equates to fuel economy of around 2 mpg?

You are trying to do this with a crappy generator. I am where we actually use these during hurricane season. You needed to go Honda EU70is with 5,500 continuous watts and 220v inverter. Should fit in the camper. That generator can power a house with fridge and a/c. That unit is just for camping lights.

Some basic facts of the generator. an inverter based generator does not put out a sine wave!!!! Only mechanical rotor based alternators do this. the 2 types of things which discribe the output is voltage and current. Any inverter based generator voltage switched 200 volt DC voltage which is no way a sine wave. The current which depends on the load. It maybe close to sine wave if it is put into an inductive load or a heavy filter load. But a capacitive load like a battery charger, not a hope If ypu beblieve in 'Pure' sine wave inverter generators, I would like to sell you the Statue of Liberty.

Not a Tesla fan whatsoever, but 12 MPG is actually pretty impressive for a 7 seater 2.3 tonn SUV considering the gas generator to electricity conversion loss. I'm pretty sure if you use a 240v beefier generator, it's going to be even better. However for a camping trip I think a quality solar panel with a controller would make much more sense. Park the car, deploy the solar panel and trickle charge it all day while you go about your camping activities.

"we still have to break this generator in" *proceeds to nearly max out the generator*

Will a Tesla even allow you to charge and drive at the same time? I know for my USB power pack, I can only do one at a time.

In California you might need something. PG&E might dictate when you can charge anything. Dont be late for work.

Can buy powerwall 2 recharge to emergency or camper mode

Get a Honda Em3000c3 or a ultra quiet 3000i , then you will see the Tesla charge up! The generator you are using is like using a 4 oz hammer to drive a six inch spike into an oak beam. You can do it but it will take a very long time, use proper equipment.

youre videos are getting much better Tommy. youre not afraid of the camera as much. u seem much less stressed compaired to when u first started. keep up the good work. u turned a hater almost into a fan

what if you had an onboard power source to recharge while driving like a volt

It's still better off to just go with a hybrid

Is this a generator advertisement or a clip if a generator will charge a Tesla?

fuel to charge distance?

Thought of the day... You drive your tesla to grandma's house for turkey and on the way home you get stuck in a snow bank. You run the battery down attempting to get un-stuck. Now what? You get towed 50 miles to the nearest charging station. Ouch.

Will The Fast Lane Car be at the Nurnbergring to record Teslas track time this week?

You know, you can use camping sites and other chargers along your route as well.

I had that Generac and had poor results. I returned it and bought the Honda 2200, Wow what a difference! No contest, the Honda was Awesome!! That Generac is a cheeeeeep Chinese knock off compared to the Honda.

Great idea, but the execution wasn't too good. You should use a 2,000 (or 2,200) watt generator, which will give you better results. You can find several sites which provide calculations on how many miles you add in one hour using various wattage generators. If the goal is to have something which will help in an emergency, it would be better if Tesla provided a "limp mode" that would let you drive at 5-10 mph, which you may be able to do with a 4-6 KW generator. IMHO, the manufacturers should have an option for a built-in generator that is designed to match the car's charging requirements, or which can power the car directly at slow speeds, and which takes no more space than these small inverter units. The idea is to have the equivalent of a compact spare. With a compact spare, you can at least make it to your destination, even though performance is reduced. If the generator were built into the car, you could have the car's power management software give you an option of turning it on while driving should you get the message that you won't make it to your next charging destination, or at least won't make it unless you slow down a whole lot. (This is something that has happened to ever Tesla owner I know.) If you could do this, you wouldn't just have to sit there, going nowhere, while the batteries recharge.

For those of use who live cold weather I have often pondered an on board generator to trickle charge the batteries during the work day so the battery heaters don't eat all your juice. I need a car that can cover 75 miles at 75mph sit in a parking lot for 14hrs at -20F to 120F then make a repeat drive home. That leaves 7hr left in a day to recharge the batteries. I don't see ev's being practical for a working grunt.

buy a diesel genset that will run a proper fast charger that can output 55mile per hour charge then put it on a small streamlined trailer then you will have a 1000mile car

How much gas was left in the generator did they not measure it?

You’ve been watching reruns of top gear way to much. Simple maths 90kwh /2.2 = 40 h to charge peak drop to 1.4kwh and it will be quicker to walk the last 5 miles for a phone , me thinks it’s not worth it and just call aaa to get to the nearest plug point.... just plan your journey ahead how hard is it sheesh

Your "dinasaur oil" is far superior to your "toy battery". Gasoline has SO much more energy density than any battery known to man at this point in history.

Taking a thick copper wire and bonding it to the chassis using a screw or nut with bare metal and bond that to a 3 foot copper rod and push it into the ground about 2 ft and wet the ground with some water. Perfect temp grounding rod.

Just buy a sub compact gasoline engine car that gets 45+mph . Seems a whole lot more simple and there's gas stations on damned near every corner nation wide.

That just tells you how much pollution it takes to charge up a Tesla

The generator doesn't sound good. Is the gas cap open????

The power loss due to charging efficiencies is actually pretty interesting. In my essay about the electrification of cars, I found that Tesla battery packs contain the same amount of energy as just about 2 gallons of gas. And that, theoretically if you could dump all the power of 2 gallons of gasoline into a Tesla, you would still be producing half the emissions per watt used. However, I never accounted for the inefficiencies in the generator's inverter and the chargers.

I have no problem charging my Model 3 from a Honda EU2200i. I did need to bond neutral to ground, but I don't lower my amperage at all. I even plug in with economy mode on. I actually use my car as a load when I need to test my generator.

Somebody needs to get Alex a cheeseburger. A stiff wind is going to blow him away. lol

I think you should have left it at 5 amps and economy and then seen how much range it added. 12 Amps is clearly at max for generator because voltage dropped too much.

I think the charging system cuts on and off on the Tesla at times and with the generator it cant crank at an instant. The engine takes a couple seconds to run at the correct rpm. When I used heavy loads it always took a while to wind up and then sometimes it wouldn't crank an ac unit because it took too long. I had this unit but in the craftsman skin. Get the inverter 3000 version. The bigger engine will counter the winding up time and less cutoff and cranking situations. Get the 3000 version and I think thatll solve the issue. It did with me. Only thing is itll cut down on the "mpg" charge. But you'll have a more dependable unit. my generator is the CMXGIA3000. I heard craftsman uses generac but just skinned over with craftsman.

I don't have to worry about charging my vehicle because I have a gas engine and gas stations are on every corner. 5 minutes later and I'm back on the road with full range.

The generator wanst broken in enough.... You need to run it at least an hour with no load. and change the oil.. And try again. New Generators always run rough when new under load.

There is a grounding lug on the generator... Just ground it!

You must drive a ground rod into the ground.

Now that the generator has had a good break-in, it's time to change it's oil! It is, after all, an internal combustion engine, that does NOT have an oil filter to filter out the metal shavings, that get in the oil during the break-in period. It would be fun to try this again, with a conventional generator, because I have found that under a heavy load, they are often more efficient than inverter generators. Inverter generators are only better than conventional generators under light loads. An inverter generator usually gives about 4.5~4.8 kWh per gallon of gasoline, conventional generators can get about 5.5 kWh or better, but only under heavy load. a 2,000 watt conventional generator might give you the best efficiency, for your 1,440~1,500 watt load.(Tesla) The only problem might be, the effective output impedance of a conventional alternator is a bit higher than an inverter, and the wave form is recognizable as a sine wave, but not very clean. Far from perfect. It would be interesting to see, if the Tesla would even accept power from this type of generator.

The generator has a ground connection screw! You can make a fast-disconnect grounding spike out of copper pipe some wire & alligator clip. solder one end of wire to the pipe and the other end of wire solder to a alligator clip. The alligator clip connects to the Generator's ground screw/post & the pipe goes in the ground.

The solution for this problem is reverse charging. When there are enough evs on the road every ev can be power station