What the Heck is a CarGenerator, Anyway?

If you've seen any of our videos, or followed us on Facebook or Instagram, you may already know how CarGenerator came to be. During the big Toronto ice storm of 2013, CarGenerator's founder Jonathan Schloo was without power for three days. Understanding that a modern gas furnace doesn't need much more than 400W to operate its blower motor and electronics, Jonathan purchased an off-the-shelf power inverter and a weatherproof housing, spliced a plug into his furnace, ran an extension cord from the car to the furnace, and the very first CarGenerator prototype was born. There were some initial challenges of course; the booster cables coming dangerously close to melting with prolonged under-hood use, the cheap inverter not providing stable electricity, and of course the dodgy weatherproofing of a Rubbermaid Rough-Neck with an extension cord sticking out of it. Realizing he was on to something, Jonathan kept refining and developing his prototypes into what is now CarGenerator; a fully weatherized, pure sine wave, easy-to-mount power inverter with heat-proof booster cables. If you want to know how it works, and how Jonathan Schloo's entrepreneurial spirit took CarGenerator from low-grade-Canadian-Tire-inverter-in-Tupperware to the viable emergency generator alternative it has become, watch here: When the power goes out, you simply hook up CarGenerator, unplug your furnace, run an extension cord from car to furnace, and enjoy heat in your house until the power comes back on. Instead of spending $8,000-$10,000 on a whole-home emergency generator, people can now rely on CarGenerator to do the job for a fraction of the cost.