I'm thinking about making an art car that will need a lot of electrical power to run an elaborate lighting and sound system. A Prius made sense because of the battery pack that could run the electronics that we need for the event. I'm not sure what the total load will be, likely in the neighborhood of 1kw +/- Much of the time, the vehicle will be stationary for hours at a time running the electronics needed. So when the batteries are depleted sufficiently, will the motor kick on to power the electronics? And will the running motor and alternator recharge the battery pack? For example, can I just run the motor for a few hours to recharge the battery pack to full, so I then have power for some time before the motor is needed again?
What you describe is possible. If you use a smaller inverter connected to the 12v battery this will be relatively easy to wire up and operate. However, you'll be up against (or possibly over) the maximum power that the 12v system can provide, and the cycle time will be minutes not hours. If you tap into the high voltage hybrid battery you will have lots of power to spare and the cycle time will be a lot longer. The bad news is that there are only a few compatible inverters available, they are a lot more expensive and harder to install. But the key point is that what you want is available, works about the way you describe, has been done and can be done again.
