Round-the-clock battery maintenance- good or bad?

[andyd]

Eljefino, how hard would it be to rig a 5 kw inverter to your Prius for when the lights go out? Might be a marketable accessory for Toyota hybrids The wires are down , but the hybrid is purring in the driveway with a 10 AWG 4wire 220 AC into a transfer switch under the meter. That is my idea of a plug in hybrid

 

[eljefino]

There are people who do it, and it's not that dreadful an idea b/c the modified Atkinson engine's 37% efficient. So the car sits there in 'ready' mode and turns itself on and off.

IDK how efficient the HV-12V inverter is; I would use the 12 volt side if I had to do this.

 

[raytseng]

there also are some 3rd parties but they apparently went out of business
google prius plug out or visit a prius forum.

 

[EdwardC]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
Cool! Let's do it. Say a Honda EU2000 inverter generator on eco-mode goes 8 hours on 1 gallon of gas. Also assume they were getting 1000 watts out of it on average (high!)


8000 watt-hours/ gallon
.8 kWh/ gallon
.8 kWh/ $2.25 price per gallon
1.00 kWh/ $2.50 worth of gas
vs 1.0 kWh/ $.15 on shore power

Now for a car:

1 kWh = 3413 Btu.
115000 btu/ gallon of gas
Engine is 25% thermally efficient
Alternator is 55% electrically efficient
115000 * .25 * .55 / 3413 = 4.63 usable kWh in every gallon of gas
$2.25/ 4.63 = 48.6 cents/ kWh running on gas.


8000 watt-hours/ gallon
8 kWh/ gallon
8 kWh/ $2.25 price per gallon
$2.25/8 kWh = $0.28 per kWh
vs 1.0 kWh/ $.15 on shore power

 

[Garak]

I've done it up here with my F-150. Having the little maintenance charge on it helps with winter starting in a big way. You're well aware the difference between having your block heater plugged in or not when it's cold. The maintenance charge ends up turning the F-150 over in the blistering cold like it were summer.