I'm going to be camping soon and after spending the night in my Prius and letting the AC run and keep me cool I had the brilliant idea of rigging something up to push the cold AC air from my Prius into a tent. I'd like to keep this project cheap as I have limited funds but wanted to see if any others have done anything like this that I can get some ideas from. I found a decent setup on a Gen 3 so I already have a few ideas.
Well, easy to add a 12 volt fan, but this is going to cause your ICE to run on and off all night to maintain your HV battery if you leave the car in ready. And if the bears decide to drive off with your car, oh honey . . . .!
Just sleep in the car. There are lots of post about leaving the car in ready with the AC on. I doubt you could move much air with a small fan and a tent has no insulation.
i think i've seen tents connected to the open hatch. don't know if they're custom, but seems like the way to go.
"Habitent" is a thing that does that. It's not very big, basically just gives you a nice life-sized area under the open hatch. Upside is it stows small enough to go in the glove box. I'm pretty sure on the older Gen 3 Camping thread, there are bigger tent arrangements shown, but I don't remember the details. -Chap
Seems like trying to push enough cool air into the tent would be nearly impossible. Not sure if this fits your budget, but it looks like it would do what you're looking for.
OP's question was in the Gen 2 area (car in profile is a 2009). But as for Gen 4, I bet somebody who has a Habitent could visit a dealer and see how much of a fit problem there is, if any. It's all floppy fabric and some wheel well and bumper straps, it might work pretty well as is, or only need a nip here and tuck there ... or they might have to design a whole new version. -Chap
Sorry for not responding sooner have been busy. So after reading into it a bit my tent wouldn't work with this idea. As for the Habitent it's cool and all but I couldn't see myself paying more then 50 for one. Those hatchback tents are on eBay for about 150 and I'm thinking I'll get one someday. I've decided that if I get to hot I'll just sleep in the Prius and if not I'll sleep in the tent for this trip. Thanks guys.
