I am considering purchasing a used Ford Escape Hybrid. My current commuter is a 2001 Toyota Corolla which gets a consistent 30MPG, but I figure I can trade up to a more spacious (We have two children) vehicle with AWD and keep the same, if not better fuel mileage than the Corolla. I also intend on utilizing the car as an emergency generator, which has been done primarily with the Prius, but the same basic idea can be applied to any hybrid:

http://www.priups.com/
http://priusgen.sandbox.org/
http://www.aprs.org/FD-Prius-Power.html

Basically it involves feeding the DC voltage from the battery through a UPS, which serves as the inverter, turning the DC into clean, pure sine wave AC that can be fed into the main panel through a proper interlock/transfer switch just as any emergency generator would be. However, this requires knowing the operating voltage of the battery (330VDC) as well as what it can spike/drop to under normal operation. Has anyone done any testing to see how voltage levels fluctuate while driving?

 

I don't think that the DC voltage variation at the battery is the concern. You need to find an inverter that converts the 330 volts DC to 110 volts AC. I believe the Prius owner found a surplus inverter on EBay. These inverters are extremely expensive unless you stumble on a bargain.

If you can get away with less than about 1300 watts, you can use an inexpensive 12 volt to 110 volt inverter off the 12 volt battery.