Prius as Emergency Generator Saved Bacon, and Eggs, When Lights Went Out

The idea of plugging a hybrid car into the power grid so the juice in its batteries can provide electricity for home appliances or other non-automotive uses has been discussed for years.

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Utility company brochure from 2007 vehicle-to-grid test shows how hybrid car battery could be used for residential power (click to enlarge).

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There have even been a few tests of what is called the smart grid or vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology that lets hybrid and battery-electric cars provide power instead of consuming it -- one in San Francisco a few years ago comes to mind, as does the SmartGrid City project in Boulder, Co.

And now comes word from Harvard, Massachusetts, via the Harvard Press and Toyota's own Open Road blog, of several instances of Prius-to-grid emergency hookups in which Priuses were used to keep home appliances running when electricity in parts of the university city was knocked out by a snow storm last month.

The newspaper reported that one resident, John Sweeney, linked his Prius' battery pack to an inverter -- which converts the batteries' direct current to the 120-volt alternating current that most appliances need.

Sweeney told the paper that he then plugged his refrigerator, freezer, television, the blower fan for his wood furnace, and a few household lights into the inverter and got enough juice to keep them running until the electric company restored regular power.

That took three days, during which the Prius-turned-emergency-generator kept everything working just fine on five gallons of gas, Sweeney told the paper.

To keep the car's batteries charged and providing electricity for the appliances, he said, the inverter started the car and ran its gas engine for a few minutes every half hour.

The newspaper report quotes another Toyota Prius owner who says he did pretty much the same thing during the blackout.

Toyota's take on the situation is typical for a big corporation that has to worry about warranties and such: "We're not sure whether we should be bemused or horrified. This isn't, after all, what the Prius was designed to do. And it certainly isn't something we ever would recommend," wrote Open Road editor Jon F. Thompson.

Still, he added, people at Toyota are "more than a little amused, and more than a little impressed, at the creativity and inventiveness people display when confronted with emergency situations."

We hope Mr. Sweeney doesn't end up with a voided warranty if he has to have any work done on his Prius' electrical system in coming months.

And we salute the ingenuity of everyone who have figured out how to make a hybrid car serve them even when parked.

Maybe someday we can all have access to options like this.

John O'Dell, Senior Editor

Posted by

John O'Dell January 7, 2009, 3:00 AM

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Categories:

Batteries, Hybrid, Toyota

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Smart Grid, V2G, Vehicle To Grid