[Macumazahn]

This article talks about some guy using a Prius as a generator.

Sweeney ran his refrigerator, freezer, TV, woodstove fan, and several lights through his Prius, for three days, on roughly five gallons of gas.

“When it looked like we were going to be without power for awhile, I dug out an inverter (which takes 12v DC and creates 120v AC from it) and wired it into our Prius

This sounds like bunk to me. IIRC, many of the posts here are saying they use 5 gallons a day with less load. I also doubt you could get an inverter large enough to run all that stuff for $100.

What do you think?

 

[Idaho]

I think if this is true, it would be a heck of a selling point for the Prius.

 

[sbyers77]

He may have used only 5 gallons of gas while he was plugged into it, but that's not the only source of energy. The Prius has a whole truck full of batteries, he's basically running everything off of those. When he next drives his Prius it will have to burn a lot more gas to recharge the batteries. He's only delayed the amount of fuel burned, not reduced it.

 

[Macumazahn]

... The Prius has a whole truck full of batteries, he's basically running everything off of those...

I thought of that and it could certainly explain where the energy came from. However, the point of the engine in a Prius is to keep the batteries topped up or help during heavy load. It does not make sense, to me, that the system would let the batteries run down. I do not own one so I have no way of testing this.

 

[moses]

some of the concepts for some of the new alternative energy vehicle's is to be able to do what he claims i don't know if that applies to a prius.

 

[dmzline]

The Prius has a whole truck full of batteries, he's basically running everything off of those. When he next drives his Prius it will have to burn a lot more gas to recharge the batteries. He's only delayed the amount of fuel burned, not reduced it.

I'm not sure about a Prius, but a Honda Civic hybrid only uses energy for the cigarette lighter from the regular car battery, not the "boost" pack. If they work the same, then being a hybrid wouldn't matter.

Also, a $100 inverter that will power a refrigerator or freezer? Even individually, a huge inverter would be needed for that. If it's true, I'd love to know where he got it.

 

[TackleBerry]

Im running my computer off an 800 watt inverter wired into the battery system of the semi I drive. I live like they do on a daily bases. Of course I can get out of the truck and have a hot meal or I can cook something in a 12 volt cooker and get a cold drink from my 12 volt fridge. When its cold I have a bunk heater that runs on diesel and will keep it warm all night.

It can be done but I find it hard to believe that a $100 inverter did all that.

 

[Sprig]

This sounds like bunk to me.
What do you think?

Well, as was mentioned, the Prius has a lot of battery capacity. It is impossible to determine the starting and finishing amount of charge. Unless they filled the gasoline tank just prior to the event, and filled back up right after the event, the gas useage may not be quite accurate either.

However, the Prius is DESIGNED to optimally charge it's battery bank. That extra battery capacity does a LOT to improve effenciey.

A cheap Harbor Freight inverter, on clearance sale, may well be found for $100 or so. So long as only one of the refrigerant compressors was plugged in at a time, I don't see any reason this is a problem. In fact, due to the large battery capacity of the Prius, the high startup loads of the compressors wouldn't draw the input voltage to low.

There isn't any reason to think the article is blatantly false. However, I'd agree that the article may not have accurately stated the energy used and the gasoline needed.