Easy Hack. One person's statement doesn't represent all. You are venturing into a new territory and much like the "old sailors/explorers" sailing west from Spain, let us know what is out there.

Solar panels would not work well in this part of the country during the colder months. Where do you live?

I like the concept of a stationary roof based solar panel that allows plug in hybrids to recharge away from home.

 

Two things:

1) There is not enough square area on any passenger car to be practical.
Sunlight is not very powerful. Laws of physics, not my opinion here.

2) The V6 Escape is the most similar model to the Hybrid Escape.
The I4 Escape to Hybrid Escape is like apples to oranges.
The V6 Escape to Hybrid Escape is like apples to pears.

Neither is the same, but the concensus is the V6 is "closer".

The #1 reason I bought my hybrid was coolness factor.
Cost savings was really not at the forefront of my decision.
I have a 75w Solar Panel that takes 3'x3' or 9 square feet.
These are industrial strength, like what you may see at a flashing highway sign. With the metal frame, they are not light weight. Carting around the 20-25 pounds of weight full time would cancel out the benefit of 75w of charging that would only occur part-time.

From a scientific and environmental standpoint, putting them on my FEH would be a poor choice.

Instead, those 75w are on the roof of my house. They charge a 12v battery all day. The 12v battery runs "Malibu" landscape lights in my front yard 100% off-grid.

For me, there was much more utility from using the solar panels in a more practical 'light'. The Malibu lights go on at dusk and off when the 12v battery gets to 11.7 volts. On a cloudy winter day, that may mean my yard is lit for 4 hours past dusk. In summer, it is lit nearly dusk to dawn.

If you already own solar panels, I'm sure you can find a good use for them.
-John

 

Hack, always stay encouraged, but John (GPSMAN1) is correct.

I have solar panels on the roof of my motorhome, one of my other passions, but they are ONLY good for low voltage (LV) charging, i.e. your 12VDC battery. To charge the big FEH battery, this energy theoretically could be applied to another DC/DC converter (step up/switching circuit) so the resultant voltage would be greater than the pack voltage, but after factoring in the conversion loss, your available energy to charge the big pack with 75W input, would be less than a trickle charge. Probably a net loss unless you had a LARGE solar panel, but the roof size is the limiting factor. You can’t charge the big battery without a greater voltage, i.e, > 330VDC.

Again, don’t be discouraged to research, but do read the hypermiling suggestions submitted by the long time hybrid owners in this and other websites dedicated to hybrid technology, and you will save more fuel than you ever imagined. And as others have mentioned, sunny days are few in much of the USA in the winter, so even with the best/largest solar panels, the effectiveness is very limited at times.

There’s a time and place for solar power, but a significant charge to a 300+ VDC battery pack, rated at 5.6Ah, is not practical.

But as John said, keeping the 12VDC engine battery charged via solar, would slightly reduce the load on the 330V pack, but the weight/drag of the panels would result in a net loss, IMO.

 

I agree that 75 watts is not large enough.
I agree that the solar alone could not charge the primary battery.

I'm talking about a real cell on the roof, 250 to 300 watts that would charge 1 to 2 KW per 8 hours of sunlight every sunny day. That would charge a secondary aux battery bank that the electric motors could draw from. Or have a dc/dc inverter that would send the charge from the secondary bank, to the primary battery over a half hour (the time frame of my commute to and from work).

A solar panel 6 feet x 4 feet at 250 watts roof mounted.

http://www.affordable-solar.com/rwe....lar.panels.htm

 

Please be aware that the 250 watts specification is the max value at noon and installed the panel vertical to sunlight.
Without automatic facing to sunlight mechanism, we install the panel horizontally on the vehicle roof, and sunlight angle is going worse in the morning and evening, therefore we see approx 700 Wh/day at best using 250 W panel.
It's only 3 miles/day using the solar power.

Ken@Japan

 

Solar cells are rated at approximately 10 watts per square foot, measured at standard test conditions, which are 25C and light roughly equivalent to sunlight directly overhead. Which doesn't happen unless you tilt the panels at the sun or you happen to be below the Tropic of Cancer on a mild day.

California Energy Commission specs derate the panel outputs by 10%. And then another 5-10% loss for the inverter or DC-DC conversion and charge control.

Solar folks estimate 4-6 hours of insolation, depending on location in USA. That is because the panel doesn't get much light when the sun is low in morning, afternoon, or all winter. And there are those annoying clouds. Even the faintest wisp of haze drops the output of my residential PV system dramatically, instantly.

If you lay it flat on the roof, you might fit a 250W panel. Multiply
by 5 hours average insolation a day, derate for latitude (unless in tropics), derate for conversion losses, derate for temperatures about 25C and you might get 600W-hrs out of it. This approximately 1-2 mile worth of juice. But poor aerodynamics of carrying the panel will easily cost you 20-25% in MPG. (Carrying a loaded ski rack costs me 10% in fuel efficiency vs. carrying skis inside the Escape)

Bottom line is you will lose a lot of efficiency due to the aerodynamic and weight penalty, even if you figure out how to actually connect and charge the HV battery.

The best solar charger for any plug-in car is the one on the roof of your house. You don't have to waste energy dragging it around with you.

 

Solar cells are rated at approximately 10 watts per square foot, measured at standard test conditions, which are 25C and light roughly equivalent to sunlight directly overhead. Which doesn't happen unless you tilt the panels at the sun or you happen to be below the Tropic of Cancer on a mild day.

California Energy Commission specs derate the panel outputs by 10%. And then another 5-10% loss for the inverter or DC-DC conversion and charge control.

Solar folks estimate 4-6 hours of insolation, depending on location in USA. That is because the panel doesn't get much light when the sun is low in morning, afternoon, or all winter. And there are those annoying clouds. Even the faintest wisp of haze drops the output of my residential PV system dramatically, instantly.

If you lay it flat on the roof, you might fit a 250W panel. Multiply
by 5 hours average insolation a day, derate for latitude (unless in tropics), derate for conversion losses, derate for temperatures about 25C and you might get 600W-hrs out of it. This approximately 1-2 mile worth of juice. But poor aerodynamics of carrying the panel will easily cost you 20-25% in MPG. (Carrying a loaded ski rack costs me 10% in fuel efficiency vs. carrying skis inside the Escape)

Bottom line is you will lose a lot of efficiency due to the aerodynamic and weight penalty, even if you figure out how to actually connect and charge the HV battery.

The best solar charger for any plug-in car is the one on the roof of your house. You don't have to waste energy dragging it around with you.

 

I'd also love some input on part of Hack's question...if anyone has found a way to integrate a second charged battery pack easily into the FEH...I'm not sure solar is the easiest way to do it but I have other ideas, it's integrating with the the current computer that's go me right now....but I'm not going to tell Hack he can't do it with solar. I hear people on here all the time say they didn't get their hybrid because it was cost effective and they might not make that money back ...then Hack gets jumped on because his solar idea might not be cost effective...let the guy brainstorm

Oh and Hack I think you were asking about the wiring of the truck...you can get a full wiring schematic book on Ebay for less than 20 bucks.

 

Slick, I just ordered the wiring schematics from ford...

kermit, why do you say if the panel fits? It will fit.

Ken, do you think the extra mile or so is worthless? that is an increase of 1 mpg for the average commuter without any change in driving habits.

Kermit, what aerodynamic problem do you see costing 25% in efficiency? Have you not seen the front of the truck, it's flat and huge. Adding a cell to the roof is only 3 inches in height in a low vacuum area after the upward slope from the windshield... but if it was an issue you could add a small fiberglass tapered slope to ease the added aerodynamic force. a 3 inch thickolar panel is not that hard.

Also kermit, I don't doubt your observation comparing the ski's outside vs inside but assuming nothing else contributed to it is hard to imagine... a 3 inch thick solar cell that is 4 feet wide adds only 1 square foot of surface area, and that is NOT 10 to 20 percent of the trucks frontal air resistance area.

Lastly, if you can configure a solar cell setup, you can add an ac/dc converter, and now you have your plug in setup for the cost of an inverter, charge controller, batteries, and an extensioncord.

 

Slick, I just ordered the wiring schematics from ford...

kermit, why do you say if the panel fits? It will fit.

Ken, do you think the extra mile or so is worthless? that is an increase of 1 mpg for the average commuter without any change in driving habits.

Kermit, what aerodynamic problem do you see costing 25% in efficiency? Have you not seen the front of the truck, it's flat and huge. Adding a cell to the roof is only 3 inches in height in a low vacuum area after the upward slope from the windshield... but if it was an issue you could add a small fiberglass tapered slope to ease the added aerodynamic force. a 3 inch thickolar panel is not that hard.

Also kermit, I don't doubt your observation comparing the ski's outside vs inside but assuming nothing else contributed to it is hard to imagine... a 3 inch thick solar cell that is 4 feet wide adds only 1 square foot of surface area, and that is NOT 10 to 20 percent of the trucks frontal air resistance area.

Lastly, if you can configure a solar cell setup, you can add an ac/dc converter, and now you have your plug in setup for the cost of an inverter, charge controller, batteries, and an extensioncord.