Any chance to see Zwift developing a solution with Tesla to make rechargeable batteries for house purposes ?
I’m sure sure many zwifter would love to participate in a project where they can save money from utilities billing and be part of a revolution where people own their own power plant. Me first !!
Best regards
Jordan
Hi Jordan,
I like your idea.
Do you think we could have a simple version first. One which would let us push
our Watts back in to the grid?
“Ride On”
That sounds even more awesome !
The device needed will come from the electric panel ? And do you think the input technology will come from the home trainer manufacturers or an accessory that works independently to collect the watts ?
Envoyé de mon iPhone
You should look at how much power you create, how long you ride…
Might not be enough energy to really do anything, but you should do some math and verify
I have actually been amazed that this does not exist yet. I can see that the amount of power you generate while doing a workout is not too much, but surely I can power, say, my headwind fan with it? Or indeed just charge a battery, or have it feed back into the trainer so ti will only need power from the grid for starting up?
Hi Cardoon,
Yes the power we generate should be good for something.
With the Tacx Neo it is possible to run it unplugged. The unit powers itself.
I’m sure you could charge your GPS unit whilst Zwifting so that it is ready for
the real world.
One Zwifter may not produce much power on their own but imagine all
the Zwifters pushing power back to the grid. Might be useful? . . . well maybe.
“Ride On”
i don’t know, it takes more power than you think to get stuff done. this olympic cyclist had a heck of a time toasting a slice of bread - Olympic Cyclist Vs. Toaster: Can He Power It? - YouTube
I have loads more respect for a slice of toasted bread now!
A typical fan will use ~100 watts. Factor in your computer/device, the smart trainer, your monitor, etc, and there is no way you can support that. The energy and materials to build this thing probably exceeds the net power you will ever provide to the grid I don’t see this as a good “green” idea
Ok, thanks David and others, I stand corrected. Better to generate the power of the grid in a green(er) way!
Cardoon, I am sure your intentions are good, it’s just that this probably is not an effective way to create or save energy. The places that mine the materials to make our batteries are some of the worst polluters
Thanks for acknowledging that! It seems I know nothing at all about what the levels of energy are that are needed for things.
(As for the mining companies… I am of the conviction that they could do their messy business a whole lot less messy… but that would mean less profit for them and skyrocketing prices for us, so nobody really wants them to clean up their act. But they must. If only because we will need those materials for some time to come, even if we transition to a greener world)
The Jetblack whisperdrive smart trainer has a USB output so you could charge your phone while riding. You can also get USB chargers that connect to a dynamo. Stick that combo on your back wheel if you have a wheel-on trainer and again you could charge up any USB device.
Bear with me on this one, i live off grid and was thinking of Zwift, then I thought could i generate electricity whilst using Zwift, would it slow down my performance if i was making my own power? Has anyone done this, i appreciate it’s only a bit of power but being able to provide enough for the TV display / iPad / low energy bulb would be a bonus for me.
Hahaha that’s 273 hours of riding to power a home for the day.
You’d need 11 riders going all day to make that happen
By the time you purchase 11 power generating setups and 400 cliff bars you’ll probably decide you should just pay the electric bill instead 
I wonder how complex the equipment is that is required for feeding electrical power back to the grid. I believe people with PV panels do this already in the UK. One person can not generate a significant amount of power, but all Zwifters combined could have a small impact. If the equivalent of a street per city could be powered, then that presumably would be a good thing.
If a UK house consumes 10 kWh per day, that’s 417W constantly. If a cyclist could generate 50W more than they consume with fans etc, it would require around 9 cyclists. Obviously the grid would cover spikes in demand but if you had at least 9 cyclists online for the 24 hour period, that house would be covered for the day. If there were on average 9000 cyclists online, that would be 1000 homes. Unless I’m missing something…
I doubt that many riders can power more than they use during a ride.
Do we know the power generated by our average indoor cyclist?
If indoor cyclists were to generate watts for the power grid then I would guess that it would not be an efficient process. You’re not going to turn 200W of pedal power into 200W of electricity. And turning a generator with your pedals is going to produce rather a lot of resistance.