One of the coolest things about modern electric vehicles is that you can use them as mobile generators. The Ford F-150 Lightning recently got a lot of press for saving on wedding receptions and helping the electric environment with its onboard electricity. Not to be outdone by Ford, the Rivian R1T is gaining attention on Twitter for using its external charging capabilities for something a little different.
Christopher Yang is a practicing urologist in Austin, Texas, and the proud owner of the all-electric Rivian R1T pickup. But after a power outage temporarily halted a customer’s vasectomy plans, Yang and his team had to come up with a unique backup plan.
“I did what is probably the world’s first Rivian-powered vasectomy today,” said Dr. The one in the tweet he posted to his personal account yesterday. “The electricity at the clinic went out, the patient didn’t want to reschedule because there was already a break. The electrocautery was normal, the procedure went smoothly!”
In an interview with Drive, Yang said that one of his staff members came up with the bright idea of using the R1T as a mobile generator for the procedure. After the patient agreed, Yang used an extension cord to plug his electrocautery machine and a small fan into the Rivian outlet.
“We were lucky my normal parking lot was close enough to the patient room to run extension cords,” Yang said in the interview.
With almost the same capacity as a standard home plug, the Rivian has four 110 volt outlets. One is located in the center console, the other resides in the gear tunnel, and two are located in the tailgate itself. In this case, Yang used a 110 volt outlet on the tailgate, running an extension cord over the A/C unit and into the office for the procedure.
Thankfully, the whole procedure went smoothly without a hitch.
