Electric power during the ice storm

These are my thoughts over the past few days:

The severe weather, especially the ice and the freezing cold were pretty intimidating. My main concern was that the electricity would go off, and that my battery would run out of power before the electricity came back .The severe weather, especially the ice and the freezing cold we’re pretty intimidating. My main concern was that the electricity would go off, and that my battery would run out of power before the electricity came back on. I use the electricity vary judiciously, even taking my food out to the garage and putting it in a cooler and unplugging my refrigerator. I used my fireplace as my main source of heat and stayed in the living room. I was able to keep my iPad and my phones charged.

One way to solve this dilemma would be to buy a natural gas generator. Because we have natural gas, we would never run out of fuel. We could run the gas generator to charge the house and the current battery that I have. But the gas generator is noisy and uses fossil fuel and would cost at least $10,000.

Another way to solve the dilemma would be to have a by directional electric car with a whole home system the GM system cost about. 10 to 15 Thousand. Would Not integrate with my EchoFlow and may not integrate with other car brands.

A third way would be to wait a couple of years and buy an EV that has bi directional 240V built in. If I had that right now in the Equinox I could recharge my EchoFlow battery.

A fourth way would be to buy a second battery for $2000 and double my current capacity. This would reduce storm anxiety any time of year for the least amount of additional money. I can charge it up and keep it charged for emergency use and if/when I get a car with V2L 240V charging I could use the car, any brand, to keep the Echoflo charged.

Right now option 4 buying a second battery seems to be the most cost efficient and effective. I would double my power for 2000. I would spend that amount of money on stock and consider it trivial but or even the 15000 but spending that kind of money on something tangible is very difficult. My purpose and goal is to stay safe in my house and live independently. This battery did that for me for about 48 hours. Two or three days. A second battery would last longer but would not be long term like natural gas. But the natural gas Logs did give me sufficient heat long term. The EchoFlow went down to about 50% in 2 days and I unplugged the refrigerator, no problem in winter but in summer I’d need light and AC or Fans and eat the food.

The hardest part of getting a new battery would be lifting it into place. About 80 pounds.