Prius as Emergency Backup Generator

While I know the use of the Prius as a home Backup Power Generator has been discussed in the Gen II forums, the following is a new article in a building science forum. While a traditional standalone gas generator is less expensive, this approach provides quiet and guaranteed functional backup with good gas since it's sipping your Prii gasoline.

Running Our House on Prius Power | GreenBuildingAdvisor.com

Here is a link to the inverter brand used (note that several power capacities are available up to 5kw or 20 amps of 240vac sine wave power)

Plug-Out Kits

From the above "plug-out" inverter manufacturer:

"The Plug-Out Island and Prius combination operate at about 8kwh per gallon almost regardless of power use level. Most Mechanical generators operate at about 4 up to 6kwh per gallon. And depending on your cost of gasoline [assume $4/gal] Plug-Out Priuses generate electricity at about 50cents/kwh. This very high level of fuel efficiency is just one of many reasons the Plug-Out Prius stands above store bought generators."

 

They have several models, the article is talking about the 3000 to 5000 watt units (3kw to 5kw) that run off the high voltage battery. Those sizes will run all of your refrigerators, gas or oil furnaces, normal lights and fans. It does it with less gas than an equivalent generator and makes very little noise doing it. While a natural gas or propane generator would be cheaper to run for long periods, this is an interesting solution for short term hurricane or flood outages.

Plug-Out Kits