Some insider notes on the 2017 Prius Prime

Good point. Maybe it is a liability issue for Toyota and that may be part of their unwillingness to offer it here.

 

For my case, I only want to use this option as long as the traction battery has enough charge, not by starting to use gas.

 

Yes, but how will the Prime know when to stop depleting the battery?

JeffD

 

Yes, for that you need some specific control software, so that you have a hybrid electricity system together with the grid. There are some test experiments currently that explore this setup using BEV's, but it should also be possible to do the same with Plug ins, if the right software is made available.

 

Well, no, you can't.

Most people who've done this use a 12V to 120V, 1000 Watt pure sine wave inverter. You just attach to your 12V battery, put the Prius in Ready Mode, and out comes 120V power.

Now, if you put a Prius in Ready Mode, the engine can start at any time. What will happen is that the engine will run for a while to top off the traction battery, stop for a long time, and restart when needed. What's cool is that you have a huge traction battery which will charge the 12V battery continually, so the engine doesn't run continuously. People have drawn household electricity out of standard Prius cars for nearly a week on one tank of gas.

If you don't put the Prius in Ready mode, the engine won't start, but you'll deplete the 12V battery very quickly.

These pure sine inverters cost around $300-$350 and they're easy to put in the car. If Toyota made one as a vehicle option, you'd wind up paying $2,000 or more. It's better to just buy an inverter.

 

the toyota inverter, as well as commercial units available tap directly into the hybrid system, allowing for more output for multiple high draw appliances.

 

Problem is, the Toyota invertor puts out 100V 50 Hz. We need 117V 60 Hz. And yes, it makes a -huge- difference!

I suspect the already mentioned liability issues are the reason it's not available here in North America, as they could easily reconfigure it to the correct voltage/frequency for here and probably sell lots of them, especially in the East US (tornadoes, hurricanes, flooding).

 

somehow, the aftermarket system converts it correctly for n/a.

 

I think that it is new territory for any car marketed in this country to be available with the capability to function as a generator. Maybe Toyota doesn't want to be the first to test the water.

Having the option would definitely be a powerful marketing feature , one that would be picked up by reviewers and remembered by a lot of buyers. It would be insurance in case of an outage generating some peace of mind. It would make the car more than just transportation. It just makes sense.

 

"Using a different plug, electricity can be directed for use as shown in the video to cook rice and bake using an oven"

Five Years on: Toyota's Efforts to Build a Disaster Resilient Future | TOYOTA Global Newsroom

 

Because it is using components for North American electrical standards.

Japan has different electrical standards than most of the world.

 

so they can't build one to u.s. standards?

 

Actually both 50 Hz and 60 Hz systems exist in Japan. From the Japan Times News:

"But the grids grew, with 60-Hz power generation emanating from Osaka and 50 Hz electricity spreading out from Tokyo, until eventually the entire country was wired. The frequency frontier is delineated by the Fujigawa River in Shizuoka Prefecture and the Itoigawa River in Niigata Prefecture. All electricity east of the rivers is 50 Hz, while that to the west is 60 Hz."

JeffD

 

i bet that's a pita.

 

Yes, When the recent Fukushima disaster hit and one side of Japan had a shortage of electrical generation capacity, the other half could not supply much capacity to help due to the incompatibility of their systems.

Almost all Japanese appliances are built to work with either source of electrical power.

JeffD

 

Curiously, it's not the frequency that's the problem (here), it's the voltage. Most switching regulators (almost everything uses them now) have no problem with the frequency. But run them on 100V and they draw extra current to make up the difference. They overheat and die an early death. We had to be very careful supplying server power supplies to Japan. Some produced lots of smoke.

 

can you please tell us the weight gain over gen 3 lift back, pip 1, and gen 4 lift back?

 

thanks man! (now i just have to remember where to find this when someone quotes a weight difference)