Solar panels for the new Prius?

Although there are some drawbacks, I believe that this is a great step forward. Some problems may include road damage, low energy output, and expensive upkeep.

I'd love one. They are sporty looking, they look like your average high quality vehicle and I am told they have a good pick-up. So if solar panels do not significantly add to the price and/or result in tax savings and good gas mileage sign me up.

I'm waiting for the Prius plug-in hybrid.

A solar panel covering a Prius would produce about 300-400 watts of peak power. Cars need about 50,000 or more watts of power to run. Penny-wise...

The entire car should be one large "solar panel" or collector,,,they sit outside all day long soaking up energy that is now lost...this would be the natural recharging period of the batteries....please see the Nanosolar company's technology. It is starting to produce a new chemical -based solar film that can be applied to virtually any surface. This is what needs to be applied to the entire car body. A clear film could also be sandwiched in the glass...if someone would look into this idea and make it practical....there will be no need for hydrogen or any other "add-on" mechanical source of energy....Problem solved!

I have a Prius and wish the option for a solar panel roof was available now.

That car already looks hideous. How much worse can they make it?

I already have a 2007 Prius and absolutely LOVE the car. Solar panels would just make it even better! I would definitely be willing to pay a couple thousand more for a model with solar panels on top of the current list prices.

No intentions of buying a Prius, or any other other so-called energy car. What happens to these massive battery units when they start wearing out in mass?

We bought a Prius in 2004 and have been absolutely delighted with its mileage, handling, comfort and roominess. Even more delighted with the 48 mpg average with gas prices lurching up to those of Europe. We're ready to order another one, and if the solar panels are available, they'll be on ours. Too bad more auto makers didn't, and still don't, get it.

Great. It is about time automakers get their act together and stop being so short sighted. Any automaker that relied on SUVs and other gas guzzling models for their bottom line, deserves to go under.

Unless you drive an incredibly high amount of miles per year, a Honda Civic is a better buy overall. Prius = 50 mpg; Civic = 40 mpg (and its a lot cheaper...)

The Prius is not the future of automobiles. I would never consider buying one. However, demand for this car should push manufacturers towards more fuel efficient cars, and that is good news.

I wonder if the report is a bit confused. Would there be any reason to keep the energy generated from the panels reserved for the AC? Why not just pump the energy right into the regular battery stack?

Even if the details might not be right, I hope the report is generally correct. Kudos to Toyota for their forward thinking (at least in comparison to other automakers).

I AM VERY INTERESTED. WE HAVE A HYBRID CAMRY AND ARE VERY HAPPY. WE WOULD LOVE TO GET MORE MILEAGE.

Well since the sun puts out an average of 1,366 watts per square meter, then the solar cell would have to be at least 1.4 sq meters, assuming that you got 100% of all the energy of the sun at all wavelengths. To bad the best silicone based cells are only 30% efficient.

Does that preclude the Prius from having solar cells? No. Will the get 2 to 5 kilowatts of power? Not in this reality.

What would have been better is if you did the math and put a little critical thinking before you post rumor and speculation. You are a news site after all.

i still remember the idiotic reporting emanating from detroit and their various petro-industrial allies: hybrids are a fad, hybrids aren't worth the added expense, they are junk, etc. i wonder if it's because mass acceptance of hybrid and/or electric autos will literally make many companies obsolete..... hmmmm. instead of embracing a responsible and progressive technology, detroit ramped up truck & SUV production, because of their higher profit margins. how's that plan working out?? this country is so screwed up, it's almost beyond repair. wait until we are on the hook for all the auto industry "workers" and their absurd benefits. detroit has shown no foresight or ingenuity, and should share the same fate as other industrial dinosaurs - and they can figure out how to fund their liabilities.

Re" Toyota Prius with roof-top solar cells"

The Kyocera solar cells would give the car 2 to 5 kilowatts of energy, making Toyota the first major automaker to use solar power for a vehicle, the Nikkei business daily reported."

This not physically possible -- 2 or even 4 KW of sunlight might fall on the Prius roof on bright clear noon on the summer solstice in the middle of a high desert in Mexico -- but the best production solar cells would be hard pressed to deliver more than 250 to 500 W electrical power

BUt there is no way t
hat even under those extreme conditions

'''will probably make the little vehicle get some insane miles-per-gallon figure, perhaps 100"

Haha haha. Daniel McIntyre has absolutely no idea what the current limitations of solar panels are. The solar panels that are going to be installed on the Prius are only going to be able to power 10% to 15% of the air conditioner. And it will only reach 10% to 15% if the sun is directly overhead.

This is just Honda trying to take advantage of a "green" hungry society.

Hi,

Everybody knew that oil prices would go up sooner or later... ok, it's been sooner because of the chain effect of bad credits that pushed interest rates to the ground that pushed the dollar to the underground that pushed the oil price to the sky. Ok, we all know that.

Now, there is s huge demand for affordable and efficient cars but there is not enough supply of them... in short, the auto makers are losing money... if they really want to survive in the following years they will have to offer consumers more efficient cars as soon as they can... otherwise they are doomed.

I'll buy an affordable/efficient hybrid/solar/whatever if they go 65 mph in the highway for my everyday commute.

Regards,
Alan

If the solar panels are used to power the a/c on hot, sunny days, then they probably will add only a little (2-4 mpg) to the mileage. The Prius already uses an all-electric a/c system to keep gas mileage high. So they won't make the Prius, "get some insane miles-per-gallon figure" all by themselves.

What does he mean nobody can get a Prius? I bought one on Ebay last year for $7400.00 and it runs like a clock and gets 50 miles per gallon. It just hit a 100,000 miles and guess what, the batteries still work! There's 80 of them on there right now.

I would rather just turn off the air conditioner and ease off the pedal rather than spending the extra cost for an inefficient and ugly solar panel. And yes I agree with #12.

Prius with solar cells - pure hype.

Maximum insolation is 1 kilowatt per square meter per hour on a surface perpendicular to the sun. Typical solar cell efficiency is around 10 percent.

So if you solar cell array is a little larger than a square yard and is on a 2-axis steerable mount with no shade or clouds, you would charge the battery at a maximum of 100 watts per hour.

Typically a car uses at least 10,000 watts to travel at highway speeds. That is, the solar cells would give you about 36 seconds of drive time per hour of solar charging. Ridiculous!

This would be nice... if it were anywhere near accurate. There's no way in hell you can get 2 to 5 kW of power from solar cells at this point in time, that would require both a lot of heat and some insane - repeat, INSANE efficiencies. This would be a fantastic thing, don't get me wrong, but I do not like false optimism. If they manage to do the good thing and surprise me by installing panels raking in 4 kW/m2, I will rescind my words. But at this point unless I consider it hype and nonsense. We have not evolved the solar technology capable of such efficiencies. We will, in the future, but not now.

If it's the car that takes you to the train station and you park it there (under a lot of sun) while you travel and work at the office, the power it accumulates during that period (8-10 hrs) must amount to something right?

Forget about solar panels. Lunar panels are the wave of the future.

WHAT TYPE OF POLUTION WILL IT CREATE THE SOLAR PANELS?EVENTUALLY EVERYTHING BECOMES JUNK!

I have a neighbor whose Prius had a single battery in the string fail. Result: Total failure of the car. Had to be towed. This thing has no 'limp home mode'. I'll wait for the Honda fuel cell auto.

If solar panels add very little cost and pay for themselves in say a five year period for the average person or even 10 years factoring in the cost of money at current gasoline prices then this is a good option. I agree that the energy should be funneled directly into the battery pack so that all the energy can be used for air conditioning or for any other use the computer directs at the time. The solar panels can be charging the batteries 24/7 even at night since often moonlight will provide some solar power

On sunny days, a 250 peak W solar roof could capture about 2kWh, or roughly 5 mi of Prius cruise. The 2012 capture could reach 4kWh and its cost should drop to less than $200 (plus profit) because the complex electronics are already on the Prius. A solar roof could provide 100% of Prius energy for days of 10 miles or less.

IF THEY COULD POWER THE A/C WHILE YOU AWAY FROM THE CAR I WOULD BUY IT. JUST THINK---A COOL CAR WHEN YOU GET IN ON A HOT SUNNY DAY.