Like this group, Steve Lapp reckons his solar Prius is also good for an extra 10% in mpgs.

But he had 360 watts peak, more than ten times what they have!

I doubt very much you'd even notice an mpg difference with these. I do like the flush aero aspect of them though, shame about the poor PV efficiency.

 

Didn't Mitsubishi have solar panels built into the Galant years ago that would run the ventilation fan while the car was parked to keep it cool?

 

Hi All:

___Do the math for god’s sake. Most Prius II drivers are expensing ~ 225 - 275 Wh/mile on a warm day. This solar array won’t do squat for your FE!

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes

 

Harsh.

In the one minute it takes to drive a mile, the array has sent out 0.5 Wh to the 12v battery. That is not squat -- that is 1/500th of the energy used.

 

Hi EricGo:
<-- What He said

___I have seen this being bantered about on a few Hybrid/EV sites on the net and I cannot believe people are being taken hook, line, and sinker into this total waste of PV cells. Even after showing people the math in a number of different ways, some still do not get it A large 12V battery from your neighborhood AutoZone or NAPA could put out this amount of power for a few hours yet place that 30 # - 12V Pb-Acid in your trunk, hook it up to your 12V in parallel, and do you think it will give you another 10% increase in FE? If it did, do you think all Prius II owners would be adding a large 12V Pb-Acid battery to their trunk? Hey, I have a Plug In Hybrid. I plug the spare 12V in the trunk to a trickle charger every night and I gain 10% more FE! WhooHooo! I bet 2, 3, or more Pb-Acid’s would give you 20, 30, 40 + %, and so on and so on and so on … Not until you could get an Array to put out at a minimum 1,500 W continuous would this begin to even help out a Prius II’s let alone give it another 10% in FE. 1,500 W is the ~ maximum output of a world class - rather large solar array attached to a solar racer produces. Solar Racers use the most expensive and efficient PV arrays in the world covering the entire upper side with easily 4X the surface area of a Prius II’s top, hood, and hatch plus they receive that MAXIMUM 1,500W in the middle of the Australian outback in mid-summer w/ the sun directly overhead!

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes

 

I've seen this discussed on a lot of hybrid sites too, but I've not yet seen anyone convinced by their claims! On Priuschat they emailed the guy and basically told him he was a slanderous liar! His reply wasn't too genial....

 

That is what I love about the United States. Anybody can go out there and propose and even manufacture an item that is over priced and nearly totally useless and loose their life savings at it.

 

Driving in a cockpit /just/ big enough for someones' head for aerodynamic considerations, and most definitely no AC.