is not a matter of adding more power to the pool. In fact this would make the car technically less efficient because if you arent using some accessories then you are actuially producing power that isnt used... making this more wastefull.

That said it would be a good move creating more demand for solar cells which will lower the price over all and do real funding for better cell design. It may also have some impact on how long the batts last for day-in day-out driving... but lets not equite better MPGs to efficiency unless it actuially makes something run on less power, or do more with the same power. Adding to the power pool would be like drilling for more oil and claiming that because the cost of gas goes down that we are using less gas (though we should absolutely drill for more oil).

If it powers the AC instead of having it powered by the engine/batteries, it would fuel economy by not be a drag on the power train/battery. I think it is a good and cool thing. :)

I live in Texas and AC is very important in here. You could actually save a lot of gas and have more power for the car because it is almost always on in my car. And you can turn it on without using battery or engine.

Sanser

The cells won't even produce as much energy as it takes to lug them around.

I always wondered if there was a hybrid bus, how much energy solar panels on the roof would make. My guess, based upon my home solar system output, and 9 panels would be about 9.15 KW at 243 volts for the whole day.

I always wondered if there was a hybrid bus, how much energy solar panels on the roof would make. My guess, based upon my home solar system output, and 9 panels would be about 9.15 KW at 243 volts for the whole day.

Caeden,

What you're suggesting is that we'd be wasting the power of the sun. Don't panic, this happens quite often ;) Supplying accessories with electrical power draws less power from the car batteries (obviously). This in turn, leaves less electrical energy to be created by the gas engine or other outside source. Also, this would reduce the number of charging cycles on the batteries, thus extending their life. I feel the benefits of powering the AC system alone would be worth the effort.

They are going this route, because they would need to add a maxium point power tracker and boost convertor to up the voltage from the solar panel to the main battery stack voltage of 273 volts.

Its easier for them to say have a 48 volt AC compressor and a 48 volt solar array...

Also, they might have to run the AC all the time, to help cool the new litium-ion battery packs. Especially on the realy hot days.

I'm guessing the Prius could generate 500Watts via PV cells. The electric motor is 33/50kW. It's simply not enough juice to run the car or make an appreciable improvement in performance.

Agreed. The A/C makes a big difference in the MPG. In the spring/winter, my gas motor doesn't kick in at all until I'm up to about 30 MPH. In the summer though (in Texas, where you MUST use the A/C, it starts up almost immediately and doesn't shut off nearly as often.

Given the relatively small surface area of a car, It would seem highly doubtful that using solar panels could power the air condititioning. Maybe a calculator or some accent lighting.

Who cares about in-route A/C cooling? I want to run my air conditioner all the time so I don't enter a 160 degree oven. And I'm not even in a really hot zone. I am sure Phoenix drivers would love some air cooling while their cars are parked in the blazing sun. Give me solar A/C! This technology was available forever ago!

I'm surprised more people aren't riding motorcycles and scooters. The cost used to be hard to justify even when gas was 2.00 a gallon... now it is easy.

dude, have you check out last time how much watt is used by the AC? especially in texas here?
it's hot like crazy down here and the AC us used almost the whole trip in summer in day time.
That little extra few watt of electricity from the solar panel is not going to do any good to run a AC all by itself...or else I done it at my house already....it can probably power some light and radio and that's about it.
it's probably going to cost you hundred or thousand more just to power something that you probably still need a alternator to power up the AC anyway....
if you check...the AC doesn't really use up that much gas...and solar can't power the whole AC ...
it's a marketing gimick from the toyota marking team stream to your dummy brain.
it's nothing but hype.
give me a fuel cell car like honda does and at least we can power them with coal made electricity.

Caeden said: "In fact this would make the car technically less efficient because if you arent using some accessories then you are actuially producing power that isnt used... making this more wastefull."

False. It would harness -- part time -- some sun energy that otherwise would simply go to waste. Under no definition could this be considered more wasteful or less efficient.

By your definition, my house becomes less efficient when I open the windows to cool it, rather than using the air conditioners (after all, I'm not using ALL the windpower offered by the great outdoors -- only what a window or 2 allows).

Sorry but it is absolutely impossible, even if the entire car was covered in solar panels and it was a bright sunny day, to produce enough electricity to run a low power (1500W) air conditioner.

It's still not economical to buy hybrids. I've looked into getting them and they will not pay themselves off. I suppose that's why hybrid drivers have that smug-'smell their own fart' smiles.

thats just their PR. What it really is for is to allow the car along with their lithion ion package to charge in the sun, or even a well lit car port, while your at work, home, or just the grocery store.
Awsome idea Toyota.

I'm not surprised that Toyota would be scrambling for increased efficency. Recent tests of the 2008 BMW 520d diesel show it to be more efficient than the Toyota. What you you rather drive - a high performance BMW 5-series sedan, or the rather strange looking and decidedly non high performance Prius?

I live in South Louisiana and it is hot. When you think about our humidity.a Day of 87 degree feels like 106.
I work as a Roadside Mechanic/Suspension/engine preform. But 90% of the time i am on the road in the nice heat. No you DON'T have to use AC. When you say must you sound like it is required by fed. law.And to Andy you must really know how much torque is require to run an ac. lets take a 148 BHP / 108 FLBS inline 4
A/C will take 40 Hp from the engine. Even in a Dodge charger witha 6.1 liter Hemi AC sucks 18 HP. I rarely use Ac. But you wish not to get burned, there are Solar powered fans you can buy that fits in your windows. I use one only cost $19.99. 1500 Watt AC? Hell i use a AC 24,000 BTU cooling my room it doesnt consume 1500W of AC current. Now My amp in my Car SUcks up to 105 amps DC current 1370 watts root means square. In my house i have a sound system exactly like it and it doesnt even Trip the 15 amp breaker.

I read an article in the Star Ledger of New Jersey that sales of scooters have gone way up. The sales of motorcycles have stayed the same. It is probably because motorcycles are way more expensive that scooters and are harder to drive. Scooters have CVT which is an automatic transmission and one can sit on it like in a chair and have a place to rest ones feet.
http://www.nj.com/starledger/s...ml&coll=1

An around scooter is the cabin scooters.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cabinscooters
Here is a group on developing year round scooters.
:)

No way possible that solar will power the AC in a Prius or any other car. This is a gimmick. I've read other articles that said that Solar will comfortably power AC in the new Prius. This is total BS.

In a car you need more BTUs than a bedroom in a house because it's a tin box in direct sunlight.

Your 24,000 BTU AC in your house with a 10 SEER Rating would use 20 amps at 120V. Or aprox. 2400 watts. At 12 Volts that same AC would need 200 amps. Even if you had 5,000 BTU unit in a car which is a real conservative estimate, then it would need a lot of energy to run it from electricity or engine power.

Do you have any idea what you're talking about? No AC compressor (in a car or a vaugely normal house much less) requires 40HP.

IIRC 1HP = 750w so that's a 30KW compressor? Rather doubtful. Even 18HP is nearly 15KW. Keep in mind a normal household circuit makes out at just under 2KW. Furthermore, AC units are in the rough neighborhood of 300% efficient MINIMUM. You're telling me the AC in my car is rated at 90KW or 307,000BTU or almost 26 TONs??

In addition, your 148HP engine doens't make 148HP at normal cruising speed. That power is generally only available at or close to redline. Modern AC units in cars use LESS power than required for the added drag of leaving your windows open on the highway. The only reason using AC sucks more gas (far less now than it used to) is because it takes a couple HP off the engine at low revs, so people rev higher to get going and suck more gas that way.

Back to reality, a solar panel isn't going to "run" the AC. It's going to put *maybe* a couple hundered watts into the electrical system that will help balance the 'cost' of running AC. Keep in mind the added weight penalty of the cells and their infrastructure.

You guys are talking about the Energy of the Sun not going to waste... what you need to keep in mind if the amount of resources required to make the solar panels needed to do this project. Is it going to be more efficient for us to *make* the solar panels or to just continue to have it run off of the engine at this point.

If it is more efficient when you look at production costs, energy used to make the panels and everything included in the resources used in the panels then it would be great to do that... I would have to say in AZ AC is needed, we have several deaths a year from people/animals being stuck in cars and having the heat kill them.