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Toyota Prius to Get Solar Power
gas2.org — Toyota ’s next generation Prius, due out as early as next spring, will be outfitted with solar panels to help run the on-board electronics, according to a report from the Nikkei newspaper.
KevinFederline- 751 diggs
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- sciencesays, on 07/07/2008, -4/+23Even if it only covers the air conditioner, it should save a lot of gas - even MORE than before
- paulmer2003, on 07/08/2008, -4/+8I doubt it having solar planels would yeild enough power to power the AC. Seems like a gimmic to me...
- bphicke, on 07/08/2008, -1/+10I agree. I can see them trickle charging the battery to near full while you are shopping/at work though.
- GramarNazi, on 07/08/2008, -0/+1This is only useful if you don't use a garage. Otherwise it sounds pretty gimmicky.
- paulmer2003, on 07/08/2008, -4/+8I doubt it having solar planels would yeild enough power to power the AC. Seems like a gimmic to me...
- ethornquist, on 07/07/2008, -2/+13This I want to see - and it makes me want to move to one
of the 'sunshine states.' - Fangsinmybeard, on 07/07/2008, -1/+5That will definitely boost the price and range of the Prius. Smart call Toyota.
- alapoet, on 07/07/2008, -3/+14Excellent idea! Bravo for Toyota's willingness to push the envelope with innovation.
- vinod1978, on 07/08/2008, -1/+13I would rather they invested in plug-in hybrids because it would do a lot more then just one single sonar panel, but hey at least they are actually doing something - so you have to give them credit.
- airencracken, on 07/08/2008, -0/+5What's a sonar panel?
Is the new Prius going to be submersible?!
- airencracken, on 07/08/2008, -0/+5What's a sonar panel?
- pwdrskier, on 07/08/2008, -1/+9notable but a solar panel to run on board electronics seems more like a publicity gimmick intended to send a message to the public than a measure that would actually increase MPGs and /or the range or the car. Just doesn't seem feasible or nearly as practical as a plug in hybrid would accomplish and the solar panels might need to be replaced every _ years
- prisoner24601, on 07/08/2008, -0/+2It does seem to be an advantage that you'd never have a dead battery. Or, even if you did one night, all you need to do is wait a little while after sunrise the next morning and at least you'd have enough power to start the car.
Assuming, of course, that the panels are tied in to the system so that they *can* be used for something other than the a/c *exclusively* on the car.
- prisoner24601, on 07/08/2008, -0/+2It does seem to be an advantage that you'd never have a dead battery. Or, even if you did one night, all you need to do is wait a little while after sunrise the next morning and at least you'd have enough power to start the car.
- MastDane, on 07/08/2008, -7/+2Just on a few hours ago..
lame. - Animik, on 07/08/2008, -3/+8Uhhh... hasn't this related article been dugg already?!
- theotheragentm, on 07/08/2008, -0/+5Yes, but your comment is fresh and new. We like that.
- phreak79, on 07/08/2008, -0/+2Yeah I dugg it previously and it made the front page. Guess Digg just loves this story :)
- MadOgre, on 07/08/2008, -7/+1Greengasims! Yeah!
They still suck. - LoudMusic, on 07/08/2008, -5/+4Neat. Solar panels are a good thing.
But in actuality more fuel is burned during the materials gathering and transporting for the creation of the batteries than they save in the life of the vehicle.- Tankslap, on 07/08/2008, -0/+2Not that I doubt this (I actually dugg it), but - link?
- Typhoon2009, on 07/08/2008, -0/+2The batteries aren't the culprit though - ***** fuels for the stuff that gathers and transports them are.
- tocsy, on 07/08/2008, -0/+4Definitely a good idea by Toyota. All the people commenting that it'd be better to have a plug-in are forgetting: the sun is free, absolutely clean energy. Yes, having a plug-in would increase the mpg but for some reason the general public doesn't seem very receptive to plug-ins. So, this will boost the efficiency, if only by a slight amount, using completely autonomous power. It's another step on the path to super-efficient cars, I'm all for it.
- prisoner24601, on 07/08/2008, -0/+3Those of us looking for a plug-in feel that way because of how much more of an impact that design will have.
Solar panels on the current Prius will add (I'll be generous) maybe 2 mpg overall by removing the a/c load. A 48mpg car becomes a 50 mpg car. Cool (and wroth doing) but not a major impact.
The current Prius is a "parallel" hybrid where the electric motor AND gas engine BOTH deliver "drive force" to the wheels through the current blended/split transmission.
Hopefully Toyota will rework it with the same fundamental design as the Chevy Volt: As a "serial" hybrid where a slightly larger electric motor delivered ALL the drive force and a slightly smaller gas engine delivered none, but exclusively was used to charge the batteries. Also the batteries should be a bit larger capacity and have the ability to charge in your garage overnight.
In this "plug-in" design, your batteries are charged off the grid (which is FAR cheaper and FAR less polluting because even though the electricity is made at a possibly coal-fired plant, it is MUCH easier to clean up pollution at one location than in millions of little cars.) This means that unlike the current Prius, you could go full-speed on the freeway on pure electric power, and have a range of maybe 40 miles. That doesn't sound far, but it's actually "the magic number" because the overwhelming majority of people drive less than that a day. So your daily Monday through Friday commute is 100% electric and your oil consumption drops to zero on most days. (Indeed, on the vast majority of days for the vast majority of people.)
The critical difference here though is that it still is NOT limited (like the old EV-1 was) to only battery power from a wall plug. It still has a small engine/generator. So if you decide on Friday to take a ski trip and have to drive 150 miles, you don't need a second car and you're not stuck. You get the first 40 miles on "grid electricity" and the next 110 miles from "onboard generator electricity."
Plug-in's are the "holy grail" of efficient vehicles. They have ALL the advantages of an "electric car" like the EV1 and NONE of the drawbacks. This is why many of us are waiting for them to hit the market (and we'll see if Toyota or Chevy gets there first) in 2010-ish model years.- trogdoor, on 07/08/2008, -0/+2While I really like the idea of a plug in hybrid there is a reason why the Prius is "parallel", it's much more fuel efficient to drive the wheels directly than to convert from torque to electricity then back to torque again but you still get the benefit of regenerative breaking and being able to always run the engine at it's most efficient speed ( and fuel efficiency is only a part of that, pretty much all of the pollution except CO2 is reduced MUCH more than the fuel consumption ). Who am I kidding, I am just making excuses because I think that the planetary gear transmission is sexy :)
http://homepage.mac.com/inachan/prius/planet_e.htm ... - prisoner24601, on 07/08/2008, -0/+2Wow, that planetary gear transmission flash animation is strangely hypnotic! Overall, I still prefer the concept of serial plug-in's because the only connections between each of the three major components (the electric drive motor, the battery, and the gas engine/generator recharge module) are just electric cables, and the fourth major component (a mechanical transmission) either doesn't exist at all (if you have four "wheel motors" where a small motor is embedded directly in each wheel) or is at least radically simplified. It's pretty exciting to think that in a plug-in design, even if one of the major components completely failed, it would only take a few minutes to disconnect the wires and pull that module with a shop hoist. Maintenance is such a huge part of total cost of ownership on a car, especially towards the end of life. With a plug-in design, it's pretty easy to see a huge aftermarket (in the long run) providing replacement batteries, motors and generators. It really seems like you could easily get 500,000 miles from this kind of car.
Although having now seen the flash animation for the planetary gear transmission, I do feel that somehow there must be a place in this world for that too! It's like some kind of engineering supermodel or something! Soooooo pretty!
- trogdoor, on 07/08/2008, -0/+2While I really like the idea of a plug in hybrid there is a reason why the Prius is "parallel", it's much more fuel efficient to drive the wheels directly than to convert from torque to electricity then back to torque again but you still get the benefit of regenerative breaking and being able to always run the engine at it's most efficient speed ( and fuel efficiency is only a part of that, pretty much all of the pollution except CO2 is reduced MUCH more than the fuel consumption ). Who am I kidding, I am just making excuses because I think that the planetary gear transmission is sexy :)
- prisoner24601, on 07/08/2008, -0/+3Those of us looking for a plug-in feel that way because of how much more of an impact that design will have.
- superkendall, on 07/08/2008, -7/+3I am really doubtful how much extra power this will provide, this will simply be a bling factor I fear unless the entire exterior is coating with them.
The top five rejected additions to power generation on a Prius are:
5) Small turbines that rise at highway speeds.
4) Antenna topper that recovers energy while bobbing back and forth.
3) Hubcaps that absorb heat from brakes
2) Water wheel that generates electricity from rain cascading off the roof
1) ***** converter that latches on to people who cut you off and let you coast on their dime. - yaroze, on 07/08/2008, -0/+4Another Sign that Toyota fears the Volt Platform, maybe we will get a decent Prius, or a totally cool looking car out of them, that is also a ER-EV (Extended Range Electric Vehicle).
http://gm-volt.com/ - aphexcoil, on 07/08/2008, -1/+3Deja Vu!
- tehGURUofRED, on 07/08/2008, -3/+1Yeah, I saw this on reddit first too.
EDIT: I just checked and it's same link too!
- tehGURUofRED, on 07/08/2008, -3/+1Yeah, I saw this on reddit first too.
- vwvan, on 07/08/2008, -0/+2they dropped the ball on a stock plug-in hybrid too.
a one square meter panel generates 200 watts on the best of days. there's only room for two on top and hood. - fogdart, on 07/08/2008, -8/+1burying for 2 reasonz: #1 priusus are gay. #2 it was on the frontpage only hours ago.
- mal1964, on 07/08/2008, -0/+1"To Go Before”
- 9bpm9, on 07/08/2008, -7/+2It isn't what you drive that saves you gas, it's how you drive.
I still wouldn't waste my money on one of this god awful looking pieces of crap. - Nar1117, on 07/08/2008, -2/+1Holy ***** this just front paged not more than 12 hours ago. Why digg, why? I know a lot of people aren't surfing digg *every* second of their waking hours, but at least pay the courtesy of checking to see whether this story has been submitted before you subject users to extreme redundant redundancy.
- DaviDTC, on 07/08/2008, -1/+3Can we get a better dupe detector or do something to the people who don't check? I mean come on, this was already on the front page before this was even submitted.
http://digg.com/environment/Prius_to_be_part_solar ... - Neil, on 07/08/2008, -0/+3Why do car companies continue to insist that they never have made a fully electrical vehicles. Hybrids, Plug-in Hybrids, and Solar Power Hybrids are dandy and everything, but when all the fuel is gone in the world it won't make much of a difference. We should be keeping the fuel for things that really have no choice (like 18 wheelers, construction equipment, airplanes, cargo boats, etc). Gas free cars are possible, the EV1 and countless other cars/SUVs have proven that. They meet the needs of about 90% of Americans' needs. It's gonna be hard to ship *any* cars if there is no gas left for boats. Plus, consider all the cars in the world right now, building more cars that _need_ fuel (hybrids for example) doesn't really solve the problem, it just slows it down. Studies have also shown that the pollution from power plants to power fully electrical vehicles is far less than the pollution from an internal combustion engine.
- Azriel7, on 07/08/2008, -0/+1I think this is a good idea, the only way alternative energies will improve is if we actually start incorporating them into our everyday lives. Sure this isn't a big leap, but it is a start to get people used to the idea of using something besides gas.
- Xzn31, on 07/08/2008, -0/+4I think the bigger idea is, say you go to work and you park your Prius in the sun for 8 hours. That's 8 hours it can fill up the onboard battery, thus having to use the engine less and less.
Say it has 2x 200 watt panels. 3.2 KW of energy in 8 hours isn't something to sneeze at. Multiply that by the years of ownership and that is a lot of power (and money in potential gas)
So it's a pseudo plug-in, depending on how much sun it gets. - Stiles05s, on 07/08/2008, -1/+1now if it just didn't look like a whale..
- gkiltz, on 07/08/2008, -1/+1Making it even heavier! That way it counts as a midsize for Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards!
- caponumen, on 07/08/2008, -0/+2A net negative due to weight.
A warm and fuzzy 5 star greentard rating........ - QubitTarutaru, on 07/09/2008, -2/+1The gas mileage of a Prius isn't that great.
A Hummer can go from 10 mpg to 24-40 mpg by switching to special biodiesel engines. Even new diesel cars can get 50-75 mpg. - nydwarf, on 07/09/2008, -0/+2Good idea because if it's hot enough for A/C then there should be a good supply of sunshine!
- muzjik, on 07/16/2008, -0/+0Its only a matter of time before solar power will hit mainstream.
The fact is theres still alot of problems with solar power right now, but in labs they have hit 40% efficiency, and have gotten solar cells to accept 300 suns ( with lens' essentially ) so the future looks good!
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