Toyota Introducing Prius with Auxiliary Power Capability

It would be nice if Toyota made the option widely available!

Friday, February 25, 2005 FuelsAndVehicles.com Daily Updates

Toyota To Unveil Prius With Large Auxiliary Power Capability

Your car could power your home if a prototype Prius makes it to market, Toyota officials tell Inside Fuels and Vehicles. The vehicle will be unveiled next week at the annual meeting of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association in San Diego.

The ability to power a home takes it one step beyond the capability of mild hybrids produced by General Motors. The hybrid-electric Sierra and Silverado pickup trucks have 120-volt, single phase, alternating current electrical outlets in both the cab and pickup bed. The vehicles were touted as a boon to municipals and the Florida state government in grappling with the aftermath of a series of hurricanes, which cut power to wide swaths of the state.

After the announcement in San Diego the auxiliary power capable Prius will be leased to a rural electric cooperative for 90 days for field testing in Oklahoma "to identify technical issues and determine if there is a commercial market" for the technology, according to a Toyota official.

The Prius would provide 3 kilowatts at 120 volts, enough to power the typical home. The vehicle would come with an electrical cable that would be attached to a slightly modified residential electric meter. The modification, which a Toyota official characterized as "low cost," is required not only to be able to connect the auxiliary power capable Prius to the home but also to prevent power from being fed back into the power grid. This is largely a safety issue. A power company repairman working on electrical lines may be unaware power is being fed into the grid from individual homes. This would open up the possibility of injury or electrocution.

Up to now, the Toyota Prius has mainly appealed to suburban commuters taking advantage of the fuel saving technology that delivers best in typical stop-and-go commuter traffic. Behind California, hybrids sales are highest in Virginia, driven by the state allowing commuters driving hybrids to use high-occupancy lanes without the required passengers.

Introducing the new capability of the Prius brings hybrid technology not only to farmers but to the heartland, where hybrid sales, and sales of imports in general, have not fared as well as along the East and West Coasts. While GM has tailored its Sierra and Silverado hybrid-electric vehicle marketing to mainly construction workers and contractors, Toyota seems to be going after the farmer.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Felix Kramer [email protected]
Founder California Cars Initiative
http://www.calcars.org
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/priusplus/
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --