Toyota Launches Home Energy Storage Based On Electrified Vehicle Battery

[hunter]

9. "Plug your house into your Prius" has been an option sold in Japan for a long time.

But not the U.S.A..

Maybe they think Americans would run their cars in their garages during power failures and asphyxiate themselves.

There are a few people doing these conversions in the U.S.A.. It's not a trivial upgrade. For one thing, Japan's voltage standard is 100 volts, not 120 as it is in the U.S.A..

It works the same way as if you're sitting in your parked Prius with the A/C on. The electric A/C runs continuously even when the engine is stopped. The engine restarts when the battery gets low and stops when the battery is refilled. The house power inverter works the same way.

Batteries are not the solution to any environmental problem. Like cars batteries have a huge environmental footprint. This planet can't support large 8.7 kWh battery packs for all 8 billion of us.