Jan 6
Written by: Aaron Turpen 10,964 views
Published on January 6th, 2009 in Electric Cars
Here’s an interesting alternative use for your hybrid electric. John Sweeney, who lives in Harvard, Massachusetts, was one of the many victims of the snow and ice storms in the north east that caused power outages for hundreds of thousands of people a year or so ago. In times of adversity, human innovation takes over.
Sweeney used an inverter to keep his refrigerator, freezer, a wood stove fan, and the news on a small TV running. All running off his Toyota Prius.
The battery in the car provided power and, when it got low, the car started up and recharged itself. The Prius is capable of producing about 3kw of power continuously—enough to run a small refrigerator, efficient freezer, etc. That’s about equivalent to the basic household needs of most people in the U.S.
After three days of this, Sweeney’s Prius had burned through a whopping five gallons of fuel. I can tell you from experience that this is about what my Honda generator gets in economy, so that’s not bad at all.
UPDATE: Want to know how to do it yourself? Then head on over to WikiHow and read their excellent article on how to use a Toyota Prius as a backup generator.
Source: Yahoo
Tags: electric car, generator, John Sweeney, prius
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