As they say, necessity is the mother of invention. In Japan’s case, the devastating earthquake in March and the subsequent damages to the country’s infrastructure put the spotlight on Toyota’s Estima Hybrid minivan that features a system allowing the supply of auxiliary electricity to power household appliances.
The minivan’s owners were extremely satisfied with the system, which effectively turns the hybrid system into an electric generator that runs on gasoline, claiming that it was invaluable during the extended blackouts in Japan.
Toyota listened and now the Japanese company is planning to make the same system more widely available. More specifically, the automaker said it will offer the system as an option on the Prius hybrid within the next year, with more models to follow after.
But before it goes on sale to the general public, Toyota will retrofit the system on approximately 40 units of the current-generation Prius already in service as emergency vehicles in the Tohoku prefectures.
The system has a maximum output of 1,500 watts and can be used to run a variety of household appliances including larger machines like fridges via an AC plughole on the car.
The engine starts up automatically as necessary to recharge the battery, with Toyota claiming that a hybrid vehicle with a full tank of fuel can supply electric power at maximum output for about two days.
