Toyota Dream House With Plug In Prius

[Strelnikov_]

So, on one hand they say there is no market for PHEV's. On the other hand, they lease a PHEV to an electric co-op as a generator.

Strange days.

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2005/09/toyota_dream_ho.html

Toyota Dream House PAPI was designed to interface with other Toyota technologies—one of the most important being the Prius. In the house concept, the hybrid can be used as a generator to provide electricity to the intelligent house for up to 36 hours in an emergency, such as an earthquake that cuts off normal electrical supplies.

Conversely, the house can supply electricity to the battery packs of hybrids or electric vehicles via the stand in the middle of the garage. Some of that electrical energy can be obtained from solar cell panels that cover the roof, plus the sides of the structure. The house also uses solar heating and fuel cells, making it a hybrid energy house.

The concept house highlights technologies projected to be in use in 2010. No detail on the plug-in attributes of the Prius yet available.

Toyota has proposed the use of the Prius as an auxiliary generator before. In February, at the annual meeting of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, Toyota announced it would lease a modified Prius that could provide 3 kW at 120 volts to a rural electric cooperative in Oklahoma for field and market testing.

[sui generis]

1. I've actually been thinking about building an earth berm house

for some time now, just not in Texas.

Pacific northwest maybe - at least I won't have to worry about out of control moss on the roof!

[dcfirefighter]

2. 3kW, that's it?

It only takes a couple horsepower to make 3kW. I'd expect with the engine in the Prius, you'd be able to get 30kW. I'll bet it's the connection that limits it, or possibly the desire not to run the engine at more than idle speed.

[hunter]

3. The specs say it's 67 horsepower electric

That's about 50 kilowatts.

You're probably right. It's a matter of the electrical connector capacity and engine speed.

A four wire cord that carries 3 kilowatts at 240/120 volts starts to get a little hefty for common consumer use.

The only reason something like an electric dryer cord is approved for common use is that it is not plugged and unplugged every day. Worn out connectors in high power circuits can have some pretty spectacular failure modes.