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A Prius can power your home in a snowstorm

By Peg Fong

Posted Tue Dec 30, 2008 9:16am PST

More from EcoGeek blog

The recent snow and ice storms in the northeast left hundreds of thousands of residents without power. In Harvard, Massachusetts, however, one Prius owner found a way to keep the lights and electricity going by using his hybrid as a backup generator.

John Sweeney ran his fridge, freezer, wood stove fan and even his television and lights using his Prius for three days while the power was out in his town. By using an inverter to convert the car's DC power supply into household AC, Sweeney was able to generate 120 volts

The New York Times wrote about this a year ago. The battery in the Prius is able to provide an uninterrupted power supply as long as the engine turns on and off periodically to recharge it. Any car battery can be used this way, but only hybrids start automatically when they need to recharge their battery. As long as the Prius has enough fuel, it can produce three kilowatts of continuous power. That's enough to maintain the basic household electrical needs.

After three days, Mr. Sweeney's Prius used up a mere five gallons of gas to power the electricity in the Sweeney household - a bargain and a real smart grid solution.

Via The New York Times and WBZTV

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Posted by jimneotech Fri Jan 2, 2009 3:43pm PST
I'm surprised that you find this surprising. Any Radio Shack will sell an inverter that will do the job. In fact, if you use a true off-road vehicle, like the Ford Escape, you can have all the power you want at you favorite camp site.
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Posted by BurgundyG Fri Jan 2, 2009 3:55pm PST
Okey-dokey then... wow. I never would have thought of that. We can't even "fix" our Prius if it runs out of gas, much less use it as something other than a car...!
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Posted by PRESTON Fri Jan 2, 2009 5:00pm PST
Very smart of him i'm happy that he thought of it i've been doing that for sometime never thought to advertise it
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Posted by captain_jim25 Fri Jan 2, 2009 5:13pm PST
What would you want to know. Jim
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Posted by fernando.colio@sbcglobal.net Fri Jan 2, 2009 5:47pm PST
I so what. I powered my frige with the dynamo on my bicycle beat that. Ha! Ha! Ha! que pirus ni que madre!
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Posted by Memento Mori Fri Jan 2, 2009 5:56pm PST
Try and take your Ford Escape off-road, we'll see what happens Jim. Just don't call me looking for a tow.
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Posted by Voice of Reason Fri Jan 2, 2009 6:24pm PST
"if you use a true off-road vehicle, like the Ford Escape" Hahahahaha! Sadly, I only drive a TRUE racecar.....the Ford Fusion.
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Posted by rtshapiro Fri Jan 2, 2009 6:25pm PST
The article indicates a continuous source of 3kW. Considering the losses/inefficincies of the inverter (approx 20%), that means the car's altenator would have to produce approximately 3,600watts, or 300 amps @ 12V. It is hard to beleive that the prius altenator could provide 300 amps continuously. Seems a bit made up.
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Posted by Unkydave Fri Jan 2, 2009 6:36pm PST
Alternator, thank you. Happy New Year.
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Posted by jeepxjgod7 Fri Jan 2, 2009 6:37pm PST
hey shap, it has a generator under the hood, to power the electric motor. duhh
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Posted by brian Fri Jan 2, 2009 6:42pm PST
The generators they sold down here during Hurricane Gustav were $700. Then, they took about 7 gallons of gas per 14 hours of use...which was a paing because it took me 1 1/2 hours in line to even get gas during that 10 day power outage. On top of that, the generators aren't supposed to run 24 hours because of their constant usage and needing to be oiled. So Prius...better than a generator??? You make the call.
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Posted by JimH Fri Jan 2, 2009 6:56pm PST
yeah this is bull. theres no way that gas engine with that kind of load on it (3kw) could possibly only burn 3 gallons in two days
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Posted by Brian Keith Fri Jan 2, 2009 7:09pm PST
did he just say that a Ford Escape is a "true off-road vehicle"?
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Posted by Woden501 Fri Jan 2, 2009 7:15pm PST
So uh Jim... learn to read. Its 5 gallons over a 3 day period, and it isn't the gas engine that is producing the power. The power is pulled from the batteries that the Prius uses to store the power for all of its electrical components. The gas engine was only run when the Prius' batteries were low, and it needed to recharge them. Following this logic the guy only needed to run it for a fraction of the day to give himself power which is why he only used 5 gallons over the three days. Is that simple enough for you or do you need a nice little pop-up picture book?
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Posted by roxyroo Fri Jan 2, 2009 7:19pm PST
a true off road vehicle is not a ford escape, unless you are talking about driving down a very flat dirt road, sorry. but this is all very true, we live in Maine and used our Saturn with a power inverter to get the job done.
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