If you have an electrical vehicle (EV) or are thinking of purchasing one in the future, you may have wondered what you’d do about charging if the power goes out. But did you know you can actually use your EV as a power source in that same scenario? Your EV can step in to power your laptop if you are working from home, provide juice to your outlets, and even keep your appliances going. We explore these features and then some below, so you won’t ever be left in the dark:

Your EV can act as a backup generator.

When car manufacturers were dreaming up EVs in years past, one of the biggest selling points they touted was the possibility of them serving as a backup power generator for an entire house in case of an outage. This ability is called bidirectional charging, which means exactly what it sounds like: Power can go back and forth between an EV battery and a home.

Right now, there aren’t many EVs with bidirectional charging that can power up a whole home, a specific function called vehicle-to-home (V2H) charging. But that’s quickly changing as car companies introduce new models that are capable of doing V2H this year and beyond. Imagine that you have a fully-charged car with V2H sitting in your garage, and then you have a blackout. Because of your car’s trusty V2H system, you have the capability of electrifying your entire home from two days up to more than a week.

If you want this car feature, be sure you look at the EVs that are on the market right now or upcoming models that are taking preorders. More than likely, car manufacturers will be highlighting V2H in their marketing materials. For example, GM recently announced it’s making V2H available for its entire EV lineup by 2026.

You can use your EV to power up your home appliances and electronic devices.

Even without V2H capability, your EV can still step into the spotlight by serving as an emergency source of power for your electronic devices like laptops and smartphones or any home appliance with a plug.

For this to work, your EV needs to have vehicle-to-load (V2L) ability (another form of bidirectional charging), meaning the EV battery inside your car can send power to any device or appliance you plug into your EV. But keep in mind that there are power limits to this function depending on the car model, and you may need an adapter to plug, say, an electric kettle or a fridge to your EV’s charging port.

What’s great about V2L is that it’s quickly becoming a common feature in many EVs because not only is it helpful during a blackout, but you can use it to power devices in other situations—for example, while you are camping or tailgating in a parking lot.

You can charge your EV with a portable power generator.

When the lights go out and you have very little juice left in your EV battery, you may be stuck at home for a while. But if you happen to have a gas-powered portable power generator, you may be able to charge your vehicle’s electrical battery.

This process defeats the purpose of an EV, which is attractive to many people for its zero carbon emissions and lighter impact on the environment. But if you harness a gas-powered generator strictly for emergencies, then it makes perfect sense to use it for your EV on occasion.

You do need to keep in mind that the length of time to charge your vehicle will depend on the generator’s power capacity, and it will definitely be longer compared to an installed EV charger in your garage. For example, if you have the Ford F-150 Lightning EV truck, you’d have to run a generator for more than a day to bring the battery from 50% to 80%. By comparison, using an installed garage EV charger would only take a few hours.

One last thing to consider is if your portable generator is even capable of charging your EV. You can’t just plug it into any generator; they need to be compatible, and the generator needs to be powerful enough or you will end up damaging your battery and other electrical components aboard your EV. Ask your car dealership for advice on what type of generator to buy.

Insulate your garage for cold weather to keep your EV battery fully charged.

Automotive experts consider EVs to have fewer maintenance issues compared to standard vehicles with a gas-powered internal combustion engine because EVs have fewer moving parts. One issue you do need to be aware of, though, is that cold weather tends to more quickly reduce the power inside EV batteries compared to warmer temperatures, while also cutting down a vehicle’s driving range.

So, if you live in a location that gets spikes of below-freezing temperatures, it’s a great idea to install insulation in your garage so that you can help your EV battery retain as much charge as possible. This tip comes in pretty handy if the power goes out, your garage has no heat, and you need to drive off to run errands in freezing weather.