In another electric car thread a Norway manufacturer claimed to run their AC off of solar panels on the car. We speculated that this seemed far fetched. Looks like Toyota is going this route. This is not confirmed yet though and just circulating around the rumormill. Sounds like it's possible though.

http://www.betanews.com/article/Repo...els/1215458717

 

in my little topic about "HUMMER going green" I said something about solar panels on the roof to power things ...go figure..

 

Sounds like more PR spin from Toyota and their proxies. A lot of people don't realize just how potent the modern automotive AC system is. I read once it has the same cooling power as that of a small house. This is due to the requirement to do an extreme 'pulldown' when the owner first jumps in the car on a hot summer day, and wants the interior to go from 150F or higher, to 70F in a matter of minutes. Sorry - but we are just not at that level of power with solar. As a percentage of the power, sure. But then it's just spin/PR like I said. The battery capacity to run a lot of today's accessories is pretty extreme. Seat heaters, rear defoggers, etc... all take a large amount of current...

There are other issues with having a lot of solar panels. Want a sunroof? Forget it... or live with a bunch of 'green guilt' ( ). What about insurance rates? Expect them to skyrocket, once owners start filing claims after stray rocks thump on their panels and cut a circuit. BTW, how many people know that solar panel effectiveness degrades over time? And how about cloudy weather and summer storms... still plenty hot out but very little visible solar impingement (just UV).

...the logical thing to do: DRILL FOR OIL HERE IN AMERICA...

 

^ The solar isn't there to power the entire AC as the articles states. I'm sure the AC is a purely electric system, but probably primarily relies on the car's batteries and power generation from the alternator.

BTW, we have solar panels now that rocks can't brake...they are basically a film material. Of course after 15 years solar panels won't have the same power output, neither will your cars engine. Everything wears out over time.

The article doesn't say anything about seat heaters

 

In theory you might generate enough electricity to power a small motor which could be used to "spin" the AC compressor drive unit. In theory at least.

 

So what's your issue with using solar panels on the car? Prius is a green icon, and solar panels are a great idea. Even if it should contribute 5% to power all electronics, that's 5% energy that does not have to be derived from gasoline. It doesn't need to be refueled, it's practically there - just harness it. And since solar panels now have warranty of 25 years, I doubt the car will outlast the panels.

Prius is a marketing tool, but it's also an innovative product.

 

Sounds like someone is looking for eye candy to distract from the Volt's debut. Nevertheless, it's a neat idea as long as the panel don't add more weight than they're worth.

 

Solar panels aren't very green though when you consider what is required to manufacture them. Still, its not a bad idea for powering small accessories.

 

wouldn't electric eels be a better idea?

 

I was talking about home stuff this weekend with my dad, like what if everyone had a solar panel roof for electricity and geothermal grid thingy for their heat/cooling? Then we started talking about cars and I said "ya know, you could put a Tonnea cover on a truck and have the whole thing be a solar panel and it wouldn't look "too stupid."" Yeah, watch that come out in a year or two

Anyway, if you live in a sunny state you could literally be charging the batteries all day long and in the summer we have like 14 or 15 hours of daylight. Just don't park in the shade

What if the volt had a solar panel roof? Hmmmmmmm....

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoelectric_cooling
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoelectric_effect

Just because they call it "air conditioning" doesn't mean it has to be a compressor+refrigerant system.

 

I'll bite. What is required to manufacture them that leads them to not being green?

 

With current technology they basically cost more than the amount of energy they'll save over their usable life.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...4103835AAYPCo6
and
http://www.alphagalileo.org/index.cf...86&ez_search=1

We're in the process of awarding a contract to install solar panels at three sites. The cost to "purchase" this solar obtained energy is 15¢/kW. We currently are paying 10¢/kW for electricity obtained from the local utility. Sure 1.5X more expensive is better than the 2.5X more expensive Bizzarri claims, but its still more expensive. Not very sustainable or green by my definition. (At least by the definitions we have outlined in our Standards and Criteria.) Still it is being done for political reasons so we look "green" to the average consumer.

 

^ I know a guy who works for a local solar manufacturing plant. Your cost of purchasing the panels may exceed the KwH cost of utility energy, but that does not mean the raw materials an energy put into the manufacturing process exceed the lifetime output. That is sort of like suggesting that since a Ferrari costs 10 times as much as a Cbalt, it require 10 times the energy inputs to produce.

The wonderful thing about solar panels is you don't need oil to make it. You just need a conductive material and sand (silicon). So if you had a solar infrastructure already in place, you can manufacture more solar cells using solar energy...which means you are truly using a renewable resource (so long as you don't run out of metal).