see bwilson about installing an inverter in a Prius... though I suppose an IMA version is equally possible. (Trying to gin up a side business for you there, Bob)

Now about saving fuel at idle: I did a calculation for a small engine, but would scale to any size: http://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/s...36&postcount=8

~8-10 seconds of idling = same gas used for starting a 'normal' engine.

If you're so inclined, and willing to lose cool air after a couple of minutes, just shut 'er down manually until idlestop becomes standard...

I do think that an hour/day of idling is very reasonable for lots of people- deliveries, those who are too stupid to sut down to pick up kids at school or 'run in' to the quikmart, any run of the mill commuter traffic jam, ..., ...

FWIW, I agree that from a business point right now, the additional $$ for beefing up systems across an entire product line to have idlestop won't pass muster with the beancounters. Yet. But its going to trickle in, just like auto transmissions, power steering, windows, CD players, AC, etc all became standard.