The F150 genny option still has merit, but perhaps not from a cost perspective if intended solely for emergency use.

The other consideration is "the Leatherman problem." It's great having all your tools in once package, but that can be a liability. An F150 can be stuck in a snowbank or at the other end of a closed road doesn't keep the furnace running.

The original article stated: "As a stand-alone option, the 7.2-kW generator – available only on trucks equipped with the PowerBoost hybrid engine – costs about $1,000 in Canada. That’s a great value compared to portable residential generators, considering its power output and run time."

That made a lot more financial sense to me than spending 2x or more a standalone generator.

I've always been of the opinion that offering a heavy duty alternator (or 2nd alternator) and power inverter as an option for every vehicle manufactured for the US market would allow for a far more robust resilience to natural disasters, and would therefore be in the national security interest of the US to encourage or incentivize.

I have used a Dodge 1 ton 4x4's DC alternator to charge LiFePO4 batteries. Batteries connected to 1500w inverter. Charge rate was over 60 amps and I could probably have gotten more if I messed with the alternator controls. But that was more than sufficient.

The vehicle was somehow modified to accept a Power Take Off and part of the mod was to change something in the power train to allow the vehicle to idle for long periods of time without damage to the transmission system. Something about lubrication. I never got a clear explanation of the system.

So now I have a Toyota Tacoma. Same batteries and inverter, but a much different vehicle. Especially the electronics. Anybody messed with using a Tacoma in this configuration?

In general DC to battery to inverter works well. The gotcha is how the vehicle reacts to long term idle. When I was doing Red Cross stuff, I idled one of their ECRV's (electronics truck) for weeks at a time. Never could find out if the vehicles were stock or modified.

Or, of course, you could simply get a gas powered generator...

I wonder though, if you had a modern vehicle with an computer controlled fuel injected efficient 4 cylinder engine and compared to an inexpensive carburated generator, which one would burn fewer gallons per hour.

I think parasitic load would come into play as well.

In any event, the main benefits in my opinion are having only one engine to maintain, having it with you wherever you have your car, and larger fuel capacity than most standalone generators. The big disadvantage is, of course, you can have power or transportation, but not both at the same time.

FWIW my 2004 V8 has an hourmeter and I've used an average of 1.89 gallons per hour over 150k miles.

You can easily add to the capacity of a standalone generator. I remember after hurricane Sandy visiting my parents who were without power for a month and my father had driven 4 fence posts in the ground around their old generator to support a larger gas tank above it.

I have a 2009 Tacoma--found this:

https://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-gen-t4rs/24717-how-long-can-you-idle-tank-gas-2.html

...figured 4runner was close enough to tacoma...

Damn, having both a Tacoma and a 4Runner, this is good to know!
"Therefore with a 23 gallon fuel tank I calculate one can idle for 54.8 hours. To call it safe round down and assume that you can idle for one day with a half tank of gas and two days with a full tank."

Farther down in the link there's a quote from an actual car manufacturing engineer for Ford who states, "We’ve had test engines idling for thousands of hours without significant changes. I’m not sure I have seen anything to back up the idea that excessive idling causes buildup in cylinders or fouls plugs." which is good to hear. I was always told that prolonged idling is bad for the engine. If it doesn't hurt a Ford, it definitely won't hurt a Toyota.
-Blast