Toyota announced this month that it will be a releasing a system for using your Prius plug-in hybrid as a big ol’ battery. The key feature is an inverter which will allow you to plug household electronics directly into the car through a water-proof cable.

The system is slated to go on sale before the end of the year, and Toyota is marketing it as an excellent emergency power supply in the case of a natural disaster or other emergency. The power stored on the car’s battery can be used to power electrical devices like lights or cooking appliances, and because it’s a hybrid, even when all the juice is gone, you will still be able to drive your car. In fact, driving it on gasoline will charge the battery back up, so you can use your electric gizmos again.

Says a Toyota engineer, “It makes coping with an emergency much easier.” Now they just have to equip it with a bathroom and a shower…

Via MSN Sankei News