EcoFlow Alternator Charger on a Chevy Bolt EUV

EcoFlow's new Alternator Charger provides a plug-and-play charging system for EcoFlow power stations. Although it's intended for gas-powered vehicles on the move, I show here that it also works on electric vehicles.
Unlike the alternator in a gas vehicle, the DC-to-DC converter in an EV can provide full power even when idling. This makes EVs perfect for extending the run-time of home battery backup systems, provided you can figure out a way to connect the two!
In this video, I connect the Alternator Charger to the DC-to-DC converter in a Chevy Bolt EUV and use it to charge an Ecoflow Delta 2 power station. I then link the power station to the generator inlet of my house to demonstrate how this setup could be used to power a home for multiple days.
In the next video, I'll test the same setup on a RAV4 Prime PHEV. If you'd like to see that in action, please subscribe.
/ @brsm
If you decide to purchase one of the Alternator Charger packages and would like to support more content from me, please consider using my Amazon Affiliate links below.
** Delta 2 and Alternator Charger:
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** Delta 2 Max and Alternator Charger:
amzn.to/4bWDW1F
** Delta 2 Pro and Alternator Charger:
amzn.to/3KpttjC

[@Jasonoid]

Excellent video, what a deal on that bundle! Thanks for breaking down all the details. This is an awesome option if you have an EV!

[@BillCarlson]

This is a great idea! And the price is pretty reasonable, too. $800 to be able to convert your Bolt into a generator that can power your essentials during an outage is pretty awesome.

[@peTeMelster]

There was a $399 promo (alternator charger alone) not too long ago. I think that's worth it, but the regular price of $599 is a bit spendy for me. The package deals with various EcoFlow batteries were pretty sweet though.

[@kiko_vid4569]

I was thinking about doing this. Now for sure. Thanks for the video !!

[@alanm4300]

Thank you so much! I have a Toyota Hybrid and very much look forward to your Rav4 video.

[@BSB100022]

Thank you very much for making this video. Really looking forward to see how this performs on a plug-in hybrid.

[@Gretchen_Trouble]

This is brilliant!

[@AskIveSolar]

Pretty sweet idea! Good job boss.

[@tumbleweed1976]

Fantastic! I like how you navigate your own needs above what is mainstream. Excellent work.

[@luidabruin]

Looking forward to the plug in hybrid video

[@ronbridegroom8428]

Good stuff. Thanks. I have an Ioniq5 with built in Vehicle to Load capability of 1,900 watts AC which was one of the reasons why I purchased the vehicle. Your solution is a good one for EV's that do not have the V2L capability built in. I like your creative thinking. Keep up the good work.

[@bfvader]

We went camping last month and I was able to run a 1700W electric deep fryer via the V2L adapter on my Kia EV6. Off-grid Fish & Chips at the beach! :)

[@johndoe-oi7bq]

@@bfvader That's pretty cool, my highlander hybrid has a 1500 watt inverter built in. It's much quieter than a 1500 watt generator

[@hardtruth2039]

Great video. I posted a limiting your video in the official EcoFlow group on Facebook. We ordered the delta 2 max w/ alternator charger deal on Amazon as well as two extra batteries. Looking forward to the release of the xt60 cable. I already had the HD battery clamps ordered so I can use it in multiple vehicles.

[@DroneSurf]

Just make the cable by your self. Ecoflow sells cables with only 12 AWG or 14 AWG cables. I will build it with 10 or 8 AWG if is me.

[@brsm]

It's tricky because the output is XT90 but in a proprietary version that won't fit a standard XT90 connector. I'll talk more about this in a future video when I demo hooking up the Charger to a grid tie inverter. 🙂

[@BSB100022]

@@brsm I'm hoping that EcoFlow is going to actually release an XT60i cable to hook-up to the solar port of their Delta units, instead of just a "normal" XT60. It's my understanding that the "i" version should be able to handle the full 800+ watts, whereas an XT60 (no "i") can only handle around 500 watts (or even less)... or, so I've heard.

[@AlexanderSwaine]

YMMV But this is just pulling from the 12v battery and not from the traction battery. Unless your car will keep the 12v battery charged while it's off, which many don't, this will kill the 12v battery

[@LowOnCash]

Thanks however I would be careful pulling 800 watts from the down converter they are not made for that type of continuous load.Most draw on EV's in intermittent there is nothing in that car that would come even close to what your drawing. If you smoke the down converter you'll pay 3-4 times what that charger cost you. My self I would limit it to 300-400 watts tops. Regards Mike

[@theblinkstykrab3106]

While what youre saying is true, the watt figures you’re wuoting are way, way below what would damage the dc-dc converter with continuous draw..

[@suvari225]

This is an excellent idea. I was in search for a relatively cheap battery powered home backup solution and I also do want to leverage our large EV battery! I actually purchased Delta 2 in Dec2023, just for backup purpose. But the including car charger draws only 8amp from the cigarette socket from my Model Y, But only gets around 113watts input. Alternator charging would be great to implement to Model Y. Do you know if anyone tried it on a Tesla? It would be great to see a video for people like me. Thanks again and I am a new subscriber now!

[@CubbyTech]

I'm guessing the Delta 2 cannot output 240v - but still a decent backup solution for almost any car! I'm kind of amazed they built the DC-DC converter with that kind of output...

[@johndoe-oi7bq]

That unit can't but there are some ecoflow products that output 240 and I believe they're compatible with that alternator charger

[@newporttom]

Thank You !!! As a 2 Bolt household that was wondering about maybe getting an Ioniq 5 this really was the video I was looking for. A couple questions: What is that battery monitor you had in your 12v port? The trick I know about is to keep your power going with the car off. Have you tried that? I now gotta rewatch !! At some point I would like to see you set it up "permanently" !!

[@brsm]

Thanks for watching! The monitor is this one, though there are many like it: amzn.to/3Vqa8VA

[@-Enginerd]

Great video, thank you very much! Do you mind providing more detail on the surge events that were causing the car to fault? Any idea on their peak load and duration? How large was the Inverter you were using? I'm asking because my plan was to connect a 12V 2-3kW Inverter directly to the lead acid battery in my Bolt. My logic was a starter style battery like we have when paired with a large Inverter would avoid the commonplace Inverter tripping issue during a surge event such as a motor (e.g. a vacuum) starting. Continuous loads would just have to be below approx. 1.2kW. But now I'm rethinking that strategy after what you said about the car faulting.

[@brsm]

Yes, I had the same idea. I was using a 2kw inverter. I had a shop vac running (~800w) and a 1500w space heater with 4 settings (~375w per). When I hit the third setting on the space heater (~1925w total) the voltage dipped to 11.8v-11.9v and the car threw a "Service Battery Fault" error and wouldn't let me shift into gear anymore, even after charging the 12v battery back to full with a battery tender. Took me about 4 hours playing around with the car to get it working again. What ultimately worked was completely disconnecting the 12v battery and letting it sit a few minutes, then reconnecting the battery and turning the car on and off a few times.

[@-Enginerd]

@@brsm I appreciate the insight. It sounds like a load for at least a couple seconds is what caused the voltage to sag enough where the car faulted. I think I can live with that limitation, but I understand why you went the direction you did. Especially after it took 4hrs to ensure your car could still be operational. My tinkering has led to that same feeling of dread when you're questioning if you just created a very expensive paperweight. I'm glad you got it sorted!

[@DroneSurf]

This is a great video. Do you know how much is the inverter in your EV? I know my Highlander Hybrid is 1500W capable. Hope that does not overheat the inverter from the EV but if you mentioned has active cooling, it should do its job.

[@brsm]

The Bolt has a DC-to-DC converter that is rated up to 130A, which works out to roughly 1800W. So the 800W draw by the Alternator Charger doesn't have any discernable impact on the car in my experience.

[@DroneSurf]

Yes with those numbers should be fine!!! Nice setup buddy!!!

[@danieltimisan6820]

awesome video ! I’m interested in that blue adapter that takes 110v and puts it on both lines of the house any way you can post a link or tell us more pls

[@brsm]

Sure thing! Here you go: amzn.to/3ViRIoy

[@Andrew-vr1mj]

Did you do anything special to keep the Bolt at 14.0v? Mine drops to 12.6v unless headlamps are on, and i had to manually configure the app to accept 12v

[@brsm]

Nothing special. I have a 2023 and it seems to automatically kick on the DC-to-DC converter when it detects a draw on the 12V battery.

[@peTeMelster]

So are you hooked up directly to the 12v battery or to the DC-DC converter?

[@brsm]

Technically, both. You connect to the 12v battery terminals, which are also connected to the DC-to-DC converter.

[@heart4Pahoa]

I like this setup, but I would caution anyone about plugging in their EV into the Delta II for 120V charging in case they were pondering this. It would create a very dangerous loop. We actually had our home 120V wired on one leg of our home panel so we could isolate power via the circuit breakers. This setup could effectively run our entire home 120V as long as we keep the load under 1800W and 20A limit of the Delta II. Thanks for sharing.

[@peTeMelster]

@@heart4Pahoa sorry not understanding. Can you elaborate on what the problem is?

[@jenesuispasbavard]

Any idea of the output voltage? Wondering if I can use this with my Anker F3800 battery which will accept 11-32V 10A or 32V-60V 25A through its XT60 ports. Also does this have an XT60 output option?

[@brsm]

Yes, I made a couple short videos about this. When not connected to an EcoFlow power station, the Alternator Charger puts out 40V at up to 12.5A (500W total), so it should work fine with the F3800. There's no official XT60 output cable yet, but you can make a custom cable, which I demonstrate..

[@jenesuispasbavard]

@@brsm Nice! Also discovered the Pecron 500W alternator charger yesterday; so now I gotta decide between the sleek Ecoflow with a janky custom cable or the janky Pecron with the provided cable lol.

[@didierpuzenat7280]

Why not just a DC-AC converter ? From 200 € for 1500 W. And of course you also save the price of the power station, so several thousand cheaper. Not to mention the weight and the space. And probably with a better efficiency.

[@brsm]

The 12v system of the car cannot handle the surges of home usage. For instance, if the fridge and microwave come on at the same time, consumption might go up to ~2400 Watts for a few minutes. This will cause the 12v battery in the car to rapidly drop and potentially go flat, leaving you with no car and no home power in an emergency. The power station can handle this kind of fluctuation while the car provides constant recharging. The cost difference between a good pure sine inverter alone (~$200) and this setup (~$800) is not enough to justify the decreased performance and increased risk of going with an inverter alone.

[@bdmenne]

Why wouldn’t it work for overlanding? Are you speaking of just Electric vehicle or gas powered vehicles?

[@brsm]

It'd be great for gas vehicles overland. For electric vehicles, it will eat into the range quite a bit, so you'd have to watch that carefully.

[@solarcharging9743]

You're going to smoke your home's appliances using that Ecoflow high frequency, transformerless inverter. All it's going to take is for one of the MOSFETs in the H-Bridge circuit to short to ground, and because there is no transformer, there's no galvanic isolation between its DC boost stage and its AC output.No thanks.

[@mowcowbell]

Great idea, but for around $630 you can go to Harbor Freight and buy a Predator 3500w inverter generator. Way more power and you're not hooking up anything to your vehicle.