Improved Solatec Photovoltaic Kit (Solar Panels)

Yeah. Kind of gimmicky. For that amount of money you could get an equivalent 200-300 watts of solar panels for your home. If the hybrid plug in ever emerges(hence a larger battery capacity), then this would be a better mode of filling your car with sunshine.

Note. For impractical romantics who want the sunshine directly put in their car vs just electricity credits(via net metering), then I suppose a solar panel on your car would be a viable way of doing this.

 

Be fair now, by the time you get to 371,000 additional miles, gas will be at least $4.50 a gallon.

 

When products are in their infancy, they are always very expensive and inefficient. Then, technological and manufacturing improvements are made and larger companies start producing the product in large volume. The price goes down and the consumer that waited an extra year or two gets a much better product. We've seen this first-hand in the computer industry. It still happens every day. I remember paying $50 for a 512MB flash drive. Now, you can buy a 4GB flash drive for $25. This is because the technology has improved AND they are being produced in larger production.

 

$1500 .....$200 for Panels, charge regulator, some wire ......

$1300 goes into pocket of somebody else .....

all this to top off the 12v battery.

How about just driving the car a couple of days a week.

Now if you going to store your 4Runner for extended periods of time like me, after all we ALL know you can not fit a piece of plywood into a Prius, buying a 15 watt panel and a charge controller for $150.00 from Amazon.com which connects directly across the battery terminals will keep the 12v battery topped off and your gas guzzler will be able to start up whenever you really need to make that run to Home Depot!!!


Other than that, TOTAL WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY!!!!

73 de Pat KK6PD

P.S. If your really serious about Solar ...
Do like I did, install a 7.5kW Solar Generating Station on your home. I pay less that $350 A YEAR for electrical power, The the city I get my power from, rebated me 50% of initial cost, and the state tax incentives added another 4-5 k of refund!!!

Solar is COOL!!! and IT WORKS!

 

This web link shows Solar Panels for the Toyota Prius.

http://www.solatecllc.com/

It claims 24 watts of power, but this seems a little on the weak side to me. I live in southern California and we have plentiful sunshine. The thought of the batteries charging through solar is way cool, but IMO I just don’t see 24 watts as enough. I would think panels that would produce 100 watts at peak would be something I would sign up for. :angel:

 

Damn. You must have a huge roof to be able to install that many panels. Is that 45 panels?

 

100 watts would be enough to run the lights and a bit more! Be careful of hype. Just because something says it's "green" doesn't mean it will make any sense. If memory serves, the green car icon on the screen represents 50 watt/hours of regen. Assuming full sun, 100% efficiency (not likely!) 1 hour of sun would represent 2 of those cars. I have never done a calc to see how far you could drive on a level road on one "car", but I bet it is not very far.( a block perhaps?) (Even if the said panels powered the hv battery, and they don't!)

As has been stated before, if you really want to save energy, insulate your house, use efficient lighting and appliances, solar heat your hot water, THEN invest in solar PV panels for the house. Your cheapest energy dollar is in conservation! As we say in the business, PV panels are sexy, but they make no sense if we are using them to power an inefficient house!

Icarus

 

Anyone know if this SEV Solar Roof Module is just snake oil as well? Anyone actually ever seen one of these in person. It sure looks cool. Imagine if Toyota offered a solar skin option on the next gen Prii? That would be insanely cool, even if not entirely practical.

 

Once again, do the math. 250watts of panel @ 80% ef=200 watts. Because the panel is never going to be at the optimum angle for the sun, I suspect that efficiencies might be closer to 40-50% that equals 100watts. 6 hours of direct sun would give you 600 watt hours of charge. (Not an insignificant number, but not enough run you very far.

If you took the same 200 watts of panel, and plugged it into your house ( granted, 200 watts would be to expensive for grid tie to make sense either but,,) the 200 watts could produce an efficiency of +80% ad would give you 1600 watt hours of electricity per day. Plug that into your water heater and you would save (energy/greenhouse gasses) way more than you would with a panel on your Prius.

Better yet, buy a Zenn, and charge it with Panels.

Icarus

 

That solar mod pales in comparison to this solar mod. If real, this solar panel upgrade says it will add 20 miles per (sunny) day. That is not bad at all. Has anyone ever seen one of these or used one? Can't find the price advertized anywhere either.

 

Actually its 60 panels, 2.5 x 5 ft. each and 3 - 2500 watt inverters. It takes up about 1/2 of available roof space. Solar Pool Water heater panels takes up another 1/4 of roof!!!

Solar is COOL!!!!

Pat KK6PD

 

I think you’re going to hear a lot about solar power in the next six years or so. New solar technology is getting ready to make a quantum leap in efficiency. Check out a company in Silicon Valley called SUNRI. They are developing highly efficient semiconductors that convert up to 37% of sunlight into electricity. This is about twice the efficiency levels available today. Their short term goal is to have panels by mid 2009 that can generate electricity for about 7 cents per kilowatt!! And that 7 cents per kilowatt includes installation.

I was so blown away by the article, I stashed it away in my wallet. So far, I haven’t been able to find their website. It almost sounds too good to be true. Anyway, if their claims are correct, I plan on buying their stock if and when it goes public.:juggle:

 

With all due respect, I suggest you visit : Solar Electric Discussion Forum - Powered by vBulletin and do a search for news and hype. In the business we have heard so many "next big thing" items for years,and few if any of them pan out.

Having said that, even now the cost of installed solar voltaic can compete with grid power with a bit of subsidy. Waiting for the "next big thing" is never going to solve any of the problems we face. If we're serious we need to embrace the technology that now exists, and help manufacturers and suppliers push the envelope.

Current (retail) installed grid tie solar runs ~$10/kw. Translates to a cost of ~.20 kwh. Not cheap, but not that much more than conventional at todays cost.

Icarus

 

While thats true, instead of giving your money to the power company, you buy the equipment spend the same amount over a x period of time and after you break even you get to keep the Solar Station. And continue to generate FREE power!!! Mine is warranted to produce 90% of rated power for 25 years ..... long as you buy a large enough system, and 10k/kW is right on, with a 50% rebate offered in California , I do not know about other states, it comes down to 5k/kW, you then drop in State Tax credits, another 4/5k you generate much more than you need, makes your meter run backwards. I generate more than I need 8 out of 12 months, use up the surplus in 3 months and pay for the last month. approx 350 bucks in my case. If every home in the US had a 2.5 kW system, quite small really, think of what we cold save. I bought my system 4 years ago and now the panels of the same size I have are rated at 210 watts each mine are 150 each. That means you need a much smaller footprint to generate power!!!

On the other side of the coin, what about night!!! I do not have batteries , yet but I wonder how many Prius batteries I would need to run my system at night??? Where is my slide rule anyway!!!


Just some random green thoughts...

73 de Pat KK6PD

 

KK6PD,

(I hadn't realize ham call signs had gone to double letters. My dad was w8nsx)

You prove my point. You have a great grid tie system, and with 50% subsidy it pays for itself and your rate of return is very good. My whole point is that even without subsidy we are within 50% of making solar pay for everyone.

You are lucky that you live where you can get the rebate from the utility,

If we went to time of day metering we would be way far ahead. To be able to sell to the grid when the peak rates are in effect due to demand, and to buy back when the demand is low. It is a no brainer. Add to the, the ability to plug in hybrids to the grid and you have gone a long way to solving all kinds of problems.

One thing I never realized, and one that makes great sense when you think about it is that with a grid tied system plug in hybrids can SELL back to the grid as well as buy from the grid.

In the US, somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 million cars are built every year. If 1 million of these were plug in hybrids, after 5 years you would have 5 million plug in hybrids. Using modern technology, each car, while plugged into the grid could contribute to a giant reserve capacity. Each car could have itself programed to sell when the grid needed the excess power, and buy it when it there was a surplus. You could program you car to leave you a minimum amount of energy in your battery at any given time to get you through your day. This gigantic reserve capacity would allow the gird to spool down it's reserve idling capacity. (The most wasteful energy is that which is produced but not used. Energy managers play a delicate balancing act to keep enough capacity on line, but not too much).

My point in these diatribes is that the solutions to so many of our problems are not only out there, but they don't require the radical change in our lifestyles we think they will. What we need, is the vision and the leadership to think "outside the box" going forward, rather than continuing the same old same old of, "drilling our way out of this"

The current leadership has been so hell bent on "letting the market dictate" that is has no leadership at all. An interesting note in the "Economist" this week was telling. The graph showed the energy and cost of modern fridges. Modern fridges are considerably larger than they were 20 years ago, but they both cost less in real dollars, AND more importantly they use as much as 50% less energy in spite of their size. The market responded well, but ONLY after California mandated better fridges. The auto makers have resisted better CAFE standards since 1973. If we had shown leadership since then, we would surely be further down the road to solving both "the energy crisis" (circa 1973!) and global climate change and greenhouse gasses.

I encourage all of us to walk the walk as well as talk the talk. Support leaders who are real on this subject and speak out against those that don't. If we don't get "real" about it now, it will only get worse. The consiquences of which get more and more dire. The current price of fuel hurts our pocketbooks, but it is starving those in the developing world due to our use of food to power our cars!

Icarus

 

After many centuries, it should be clear that good leadership only shows up rarely. Also after many centuries, it should be clear that those that act instead of waiting come out ahead. Using your own example, California had positive leadership concerning refrigerators, but not with the removal of the mandates creating the EV-1 and Electric RAV-4. Bottom Line is that your info and insight on solar power is golden. I like it because you know what you are talking about. However, once you claim candidate X is the right choice.....welcome to FHOP-Politics.

 

I confess to a couple of things,,,

I know little if anything about California politics of the past or present. A state that can produce Ronald Reagan, Jerry Brown and Arnold does raise the eyebrows. What I do know is that they have consistently lead the way with useful environmental policy, even when the Feds have attempted to block their plans. (Current situation included!)

I know that no matter how else you feel about Arnold he has indeed "LEAD" on the subject of greenhouse gasses. He has brought on board the States of Washington, and I believe Oregon and New Mexico, as well as the Province of British Columbia into a region wide plan. Good or bad, at least it is something.

What I also know is that our current crop of Presidential candidates are not taking enough leadership on the subject. I understand that if you don't get elected, you don't get a chance to implement policy, but I would like to see the 3 remaining candidates speak much more forcefully on the subject, and stop drinking the cool-aid of ethanol, corn based or otherwise.

Finally, what I DON'T know is what . FHOP-Politics means. Please inform.

 

I would submit that California often leads the way environmentatlly (sometimes strangely) because of the strong grass roots efforts of the population. The selection of governors reflects this. The present governator is actually probably an environmental surprise to many given his original trademark of driving Humvees.

Total agree that it is good. But it is also popular. To me the true test of leadership is standing up for what is right when it is unpopular (e.g. proposing the same initiative as the mayor of Detroit).

That captures why I responded. I really feel that I have more effect on the candidates by being a sustainable as possible and setting examples for those around me. Example - When I eventually buy an electric car, I have "stopped drinking the cool-aid" and raised awarement more than how I vote.

Fred's House of Politics on PriusChat- It will not be too long before PC will have posters claiming candidate D is the better environmental choice or candidate R is the better environmental choice. I doubt that either will help get electric cars out sooner than my (and other's) wallets will.

 

Hi there Aviator Guy.... thanks for the tip on this. Your recollection of the company name was close, but it's actually SUNRGI. Check out their website here: Sunrgi :: Solar Energy Systems

I agree with you... this sounds like a fantastic technology. By concentrating the sun, fewer PV cells are needed to convert the sun's power into electricity (less PV cells, less cost). The by product of concentrating the sun is heat. Seems to me that this should be able to be captured as another positive benefit (i.e. solar hot water).

Very interesting indeed. I'll be watching this as well!

 

Once again,while I wish them luck, I will believe it when I can buy it. Until then I will remain skeptical as to whether or not they can get it to market as advertised. If they don't it will join the ranks of so many other promising ideas that fall under the catagory of "vaporware". Anyone had an installations done by "CitizenRe"?

Icarus