The holiday season is upon us, and if you're like Chargely CEO David Tse, you've got a lot of family in town and are trying to figure out how you’re going to cook a full Thanksgiving meal with your single oven.
Enter… the electric fryer. Which got the Chargely team thinking: could you use an electric vehicle to cook a turkey?
We’ll share how to (theoretically) deep fry the perfect turkey for your Thanksgiving dinner using your EV, and this Thursday, David will try it out with his Rivian R1T!
Step 1: Check the specs on your electric fryer and your electric vehicle
David has acquired a turkey fryer that draws 1,500 watts. The Rivian R1T has 120V outlets in the truck bed that can output 1,500 watts.
If you’re going to try this out at home, make sure wattage supported by the outlet in your car is either equal to or greater than the wattage of the fryer you’re using. Otherwise, the car may shut off the power to the outlet, or worse, you could risk damaging your car and create a fire hazard.
The EVs available today with power outlets include:
Rivian R1T & R1S
Ford F-150 Lightning
Genesis GV60
Hyundai Ioniq 5
Hyundai Ioniq 6
Kia EV6
Kia Niro
Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV
Step 2: Acquire a turkey
We’re not turkey experts! All we’ll say is to make sure it’s small enough to fit in the fryer. 😉
David has acquired a 12.5 lb Butterball. Yum.
Step 3: Prepare the turkey
If frozen, make sure to completely thaw your turkey! Allow one day of thawing in the refrigerator for every 4 pounds of turkey.
Pat dry and use your favorite recipe for seasoning.
Step 4: Set up the fryer
Plug your fryer into the outlet of your EV. If you’re using an extension cord to create some distance between the car and your fryer, make sure it’s also rated for the wattage of your fryer!
Add the oil of choice to your fryer, filling it according to the instructions on your fryer. It should have a smoke point of at least 450° F, and peanut oil is a popular choice if allergies aren’t an issue.
Turn the fryer on and let it start heating up!
Step 5: Cook the turkey
Once the oil is hot enough, place the turkey in the fryer basket (you may need to add some oil to the basket to prevent the turkey from sticking to the sides) and carefully lower it in. You’ll need to cook the turkey for about 3-4 minutes per pound.
We recommend supervising the turkey while it cooks.
Step 6: Carve & serve the turkey
Once the turkey is cooked, it's time to carve it! Take the turkey out of the fryer and let it rest for about 20 minutes before carving. This will ensure that the juices are evenly distributed throughout the meat. Once you've allowed it to rest, go ahead and carve the turkey.
Serve with gravy, cranberry sauce, and stuffing (cooked separately in the oven that was freed up because you cooked your turkey with your electric vehicle!).
Putting the theory to the test
Assuming it takes 50 minutes for David to cook his 12.5 lb turkey with an additional 10 minutes for the oil to heat up, David will use about 1.5 kWh from his Rivian’s battery. At an estimated efficiency of 2.1 miles per kWh, David will be using about 3.15 miles of his range to cook his turkey. Not bad!
David is going to try it out with his Rivian R1T this Thursday and we’ll see if the math (and turkey) check out! We’ll follow up with Part 2: The Practice.
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