Electric power from a hybrid, connecting inverter to the high-voltage system

This is a topic that has been coming up over and over from the earliest years, but in a whole bunch of separate threads. Part of the problem is people start threads in the forum for their model and generation, and those are all separate. I'm starting this "knowledge base" thread because the topic is no way specific to just Prius or any particular generation.

Any car has a 12 volt system, and power inverters to run from the 12 volt system are easy to find. Pretty much any modern car, Prius included, can give you somewhere around 1000 watts of power that way, and if that meets your need, that's the simplest way to go. There are tons of threads and how-tos and videos about that.

That's not what this thread is about.

A hybrid also has a high-voltage system, and with a (less easy to find) inverter with a compatible input voltage rating, you can put a rig together that will give you more power than the 12 volt route can give you: from two or three times as much, for early Prius and similar hybrids, maybe five times as much in newer, larger or plugin hybrids.

How much power each model can give you that way has to be experimentally determined; this is generally an aftermarket mod that the manufacturer doesn't publish figures for. (Ford's F-150 hybrid is expected to have an official 7.2 kW power-out option.)

One place to find such figures is PlugOut Power's supported vehicle list. PlugOut Power is a company selling inverters that will work for this application. Randy Bryan, who runs it, also ran an earlier company, ConVerdant Vehicles LLC, selling similar products several years ago.

Early credit for getting the idea off the ground has to go to Richard Factor, who started the PriUPS pages back in 2005. One of his pages is a wish list for desirable specifications of an inverter product for this use.

One of the first products marketed for the purpose, the 2000 watt Jack Chen custom AIMS build, was announced to Richard in response to his publishing the wish list.



The idea attracts discussion of its merits every time it comes up, often with comments that duplicate many others made years before. To help with that, Richard Factor put up an early summary of the Usual Comments.

Here in one place are some of the many existing links on the topic.

Non-PriusChat links

PriUPS-getting electricity FROM your hybrid vehicle

Using a Prius as a generator — northernarizona-windandsun

PriusChat links

From Gen 2 forums

Serious Business: Getting AC electrical power from my Prius | PriusChat

Best Way to Tap 240v Traction Battery? | PriusChat

From Gen 3 forums

PlugOut Power Inverter | PriusChat

From Gen 4/Prime forums

What is the voltage of traction battery? | PriusChat

Reviews

My install and review of the AIMS Prius 2kW Pure Sine Wave Inverter for Backup Power Generator | PriusChat

My install and review of the ConVerdant LFI30-220 3kVA Pure Sine Wave Inverter for Backup Power | PriusChat


I'm sure this list is nowhere near complete, but should save somebody some searching.

 

Randy Bryan's company recently announced a new version of their product [v4.1] over at plugoutpower.com and reportedly has some new info there on comparison to generators too.

 

There's a TorqueNews article about it linked in post #1.

 

Which power-out option has it got? It looks as if they offer a 2 kW or a 2.4 kW, 120 VAC only, or 7.2 kW 120/240 option. And what flavor of charging point was used between that and the Prime?

 

The newly-announced Aqua (which was the Prius c in the US) has 1,500 watts of "PriUPS" or "plug-out" capacity included in all trims, including an "emergency power supply mode", which I hope means it will run without auto shutoff and without somebody driving it away, though I haven't seen the details.

For 100-volt markets, anyway. Haven't seen any indication that it's coming here....

 

I didn't bother checking, so I just used the s.