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Turn Your Prius Into a Backup Generator

February 5, 2013 by 3 Comments
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There are so many ways to put things to use, and, the usefulness of items depends on your location.For example, are power outages frequent in your area? Especially long ones? If so, a backup generator makes sense, and a new “Plug-Out Kit” for the Toyota Prius hybrid turns this fuel sipper into a backup generator.

ConVerdant Vehicles, LLC is offering a product called a “Plug-Out Kit” for Toyota Prius owners that enables them to use their Prius batteries to power their houses partially or fully with power during outage. It starts at $200 for the 1 kW model. The larger 3 kW island units costs $1,300.

Another considerable benefit is that diesel and gasoline-fueled generators tend to sit for a long time until they are needed, and then fail to start when they actually are needed, while cars are used often. If you use your Toyota Prius, at least you can be sure that it will work most of the time, because malfunctions will manifest themselves when you try to drive to work, rather than the next time there is an outage, and you’re likely to fix it promptly.

Hybrid car batteries in general tend to be small compared to house batteries (not to be confused with electric car batteries, which are enormous), but the built-in Prius gas engine will recharge the battery when necessary. You cannot achieve a 3 kW power supply with a typical gasoline-powered car, though. Contrary to popular belief, car alternators normally don’t generate more than 2 kW of power, and 2 kW is well above average.

However, you could still power some larger appliances off of a Toyota Prius battery pack in a pinch, adding another layer of versatility to the world’s most popular hybrid.

Source: Green Car Reports

Photo Credit: Green Car Reports

Follow me on Twitter: @Kompulsa.

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Filed Under: Batteries, Hybrid Vehicles Tagged With: , , , , , ,
About Nicholas Brown

I have a keen interest in physics-intensive topics such as electricity generation, refrigeration and air conditioning technology, energy storage, geography, and much more.

My website is: Kompulsa.

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  • http://www.facebook.com/bruce.miller.900 Bruce Miller

    Marks the age of true energy control for humanity! Next a Solar, Wind Wave hydro, Tidal Geothermal, Biological plug in system to charge your Prius battery and the game is on! Super-insulated homes (NASA has it got to the Moon with it buried it in U.S. patent hell?) super-insulated fridges, small sustainable houses with easy to pay mortgages, humanure bio-gassed to methane for cooking, Solar heated hot water storage for heating, so many new ideas to be incorporated into our daily lives! So many technologies to give America the economic boost she needs. Thank you Toyota!

  • http://www.facebook.com/burjoes Jason Burroughs

    I have a 3KW solar system, with a 48v battery pack (8 x Rolls Surette 530A batteries). I have a battery charger (IOData) that is designed to be hooked up to a generator, which would top off the batteries, then float to the inverter and to the house and/or grid. I did this because the solar installer convinced me that a power conditioner would be very expensive, and the batteries would be useful in case of an outage. However, I was not educated on the concept of a “critical load panel” during the sales process, and only later learned that I would not be able to power the whole house, or use air conditioning. I’ve learned a lot since then, and in hindsight, I should have just bought a power conditioner.

    Anyway, that’s the system I have, and I never did get a generator. I’m wondering if there is a way for me to charge the batteries using the battery charger connected to a Prius or other electric or hybrid vehicle. I originally planned to get a Lister diesel generator, that I would use either used cooking oil or biodiesel. I’m seeing that VW is finally launching a diesel hybrid in the US next year. I’d be very interested in having it running in the driveway to provide power in an emergency, running on biodiesel, etc.