Prius powers home during post-Sandy blackout

Many residents who lost power during Hurricane Sandy turned to home power generators to keep the lights on. Others sought temporary refuge--and warmth--inside their cars.

Then there was Bob Sakala, who used a more unconventional, albeit not unheard of, method to power his home during the blackout that affected more than 8.5 million homes and businesses across 21 states in the U.S.

The New Jersey resident tapped into his Toyota Prius hybrid to provide power to his home, NBC News reported.

For about a week after the storm, Sakala was able to power some lights, charge electronics and power his TV using a 100-watt power inverter plugged into his Prius' lighter outlet and a few heavy-duty extension cords. Sakala later upgraded to a 300-watt inverter to power more lights.

And he did all of this on three-quarters of a tank of gas that lasted close to a week.

There are periodic reports (usually after a major storm has caused power outages) of folks who use their hybrid to provide some power to their homes. After the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, for instance, there were a number of reports of residents using their hybrids as a power source.

Photo: Toyota

Related:

• Sandy's toll includes 200,000 new and used cars
• Fisker loses $32M in EVS to Hurricane Sandy
• Hurricane Sandy brings pedal power to New York City

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com