Prius Power - 112 hours, 8 gallons

One reason the Prius is superior to every other car is what happened when tornadoes tore up the TVA transmission lines last week. My very first Prius modification was to add a 1 kW inverter:

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When the storms took out power 5:20 PM Wednesday, I drove home and backed the car into the carport. I ran a contractor power cord into the kitchen and we were on Prius power, four days and six hours, 112 hours total.

We had lights, TV, and radio and I even ran an extension cord too the neighbors so they had lights and TV. I only had less than three gallons in the tank and after adding one gallon found at home and the neighbor's gallon, I was able on Saturday to drive my wife's Prius to Decatur and fill-up her car and a 5 gallon can. That kept our 03 Prius running through Sunday 11:30 PM when we finally got power again. This is something no stinking diesel or gasser could ever accomplish for 2 gallons/day.

The Prius provides continuous power to the inverter and only run the gas engine as needed to recharge the traction battery. It has a catalytic converter so there is no risk of carbon monoxide poisioning. The muffler is so quiet it can no be heard outside of our property line, unlike gas generators. Best of all, we can refuel it by just waiting until the engine cycles off and never interrupt power. Once we had power, I turned off the Prius and the next day, drove it to get a full tank of gas and supplies, something a gas generator will never be able to do. In fact, the Prius is regularly operated and maintained, something not so common with gas generators.

No one thing makes a Prius superior but this one sure sets a high mark that inferior gasser and diesels will never be able too follow ... nor even EVs.

Bob Wilson

Reply to
bwilson4web
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Compelling case. What's involved with the inverter add-on?

Reply to
News

Thanks for your insight. Has anyone commercialized an aftermarket option?

Reply to
News

bwilson4web:

Really? I have an '06 Prius and it's a good car. Superior to every other car? I think not. Would that not depend on the purpose for which the car was intended? Superior to a Miata for top-down cruising on a warm summer evening? Not. Superior to a 72 Chevy for carrying six people in quiet and comfort? Not.

Additionally, I have had more recalls in the 20 years of Honda ownership.

Davoud

Reply to
Davoud

Great story except for the one sentence above. Is that really true? Catalytic converters greatly reduce emmissions, but I had never heard that they eliminate carbon monoxide. I would hate for someone to read your post and then run their car (Prius or otherwise) in a closed garage.

Reply to
greenpjs

Ohmigod, did you really say that?

More proof that the fanboi Prius owners are total and complete idiots.

You go ahead and run that baby inside your closed attached garage, with the back door open so you can run the power cord inside. Go right ahead. The gene pool will thank you.

Reply to
Elmo P. Shagnasty

Every other car has a catalytic converter, too. And many cars are SULEV anymore.

Are you truly and honestly saying that the Prius is a superior car because it has a catalytic converter and therefore gives off no--or at best meaningless amounts of--carbon monoxide, such that you can run the car inside your house with no ill effects???

Go right ahead. Show us how that works.

Reply to
Elmo P. Shagnasty

"Historically, it was also commonly used as a method to commit suicide, usually by deliberately inhaling the exhaust fumes of a running car engine. Modern cars with electronically controlled combustion and catalytic converters produce so little carbon monoxide that this is much less viable."

You have taken a simple Wiki entry--not a technical journal, not a health journal, but a publicly editable web page--and declared it to be Truth on par with actual edited technical and health journals, and turned that into "it has a catalytic converter, therefore it doesn't produce carbon monoxide".

In addition, you use that as "proof" that the Prius is a "superior car to all others", even though all others ALSO have catalytic converters.

You are a total wacko.

Reply to
Elmo P. Shagnasty

I'm repeating what you're saying.

That you don't like seeing that in the light of day, is your problem. But it doesn't change the fact that you're saying random, false things, pulling them out of thin air.

Reply to
Elmo P. Shagnasty

"The Prius is a superior car because it has a catalytic converter, and doesn't emit carbon monoxide."

You may want to deny that's what you said, but it is what you said.

Stick your head in the sand all you want.

Reply to
Elmo P. Shagnasty

Those were your words. Denying that is beneath you.

That you had to be corrected by someone who knows the facts, such simple facts, tells all about your grasp of simple facts.

Reply to
Elmo P. Shagnasty

The point isn't that it removes carbon monoxide; the point is that you thought the Prius didn't produce carbon monoxide at all due to the catalytic converter.

You don't know shit about how cars work.

That it removes 99% of the CO is not unique to the Prius, either, but you think it is. You continue to say that the Prius is "a superior car" because of that fact, yet the Prius engine puts out just as much CO as any other modern car engine.

You really don't know anything about cars, but you spout off as you do. Expect to be called on your ignorance.

Reply to
Elmo P. Shagnasty

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