Sneak Peak of the New Prius #7 - Solar A/C Confirmed?

I'm pretty sure it's only for cooling the Prius on a sunny day. They would never make a car that starts the engine unattended to warm the interior. For cooling they can use the electric airco, maybe not at full power, but enough to make a difference. Also read between the lines: The Prius is cool, the new one will be cooler.

 

It's may not be necessary to start the engine to warm the car. The current generation Prius has electric heaters, albeit they must be augmented by the engine for high heat. The next generation Prius may have more powerful electric heaters or maybe remote warming of the car can be done more slowly.

 

It stands for Auto Car. Pressing the button will command the Prius to come your location without a driver. The other fob uses voice recognition; so the button is not needed. Toyota just wanted to go a few steps beyond the "auto parallel park" feature.

They got the tech from Knight Industires. The company that built KITT.

 

Other than electric heaters for the rear window and outside mirrors (option), I don't believe the Prius has any electric heat for the interior of the vehicle.

 

I'm still not convinced that this is a remote start for an air conditioning system in the 2010. IMO, it seems like that is a luxury option for folks who don't want to get into a hot car on a summer day, and an idea that goes against the whole "green" aspect of owning a hybrid. I mean really, you're gonna remote start your A/C and just let the car sit in a lot with the ICE turning on and off just to charge the traction battery when it gets low! That's insane! It's like stepping back in efficiency after making great strides. :rant:

I had this same thought Chris...

 

I'm not sure where everyone is getting this whole solar thing cofirmed. This idea sounds ridiculous to me to go from something that seems like air conditioning to solar panels?

reasons:
1) theres 2 of these things so that means the low end prii dont have it. There not going to make something serious like solar panels an option. Just buy a Gen II prius if you dont want solar panels

2) Solar panels need charging why press a button to discharge themwhen the car isnt even running?

and the biggest reason its not solar:
3) most people park there car in a garage away from solar energy!

btw a/c is also an abbreviation for aircraft...


on the actual key:
I think it looks cheap compared to my Gen II one

 

I always thought a panic button was ridiculous. What case would you actually use this? oh no someone is stealing my car! quick press panic and things will be ok!

no one pays any attention to car alarms anyway, they go off way to often by mistake.

 

I was hoping for something like this:

 

"solar panels need charging"? What does that mean?

Most people don't park their car in a garage. I live in an upscale San Diego neighborhood, every house with a 2-car garage. Most people are still parking 1 or 2 cars in the street and use their garage for storage. And it is rare to have garage parking available at your place of employment.

Solar panels were confirmed to be in the next generation Prius many months ago from a Japanese media source. It was surmised that this source of electrical power generation would power the A/C, even when the car is off. My calculations (and many others') are that a rooftop solar panel could not power the A/C on the Prius continuously without drawing from the battery. It's a better bet that the energy will be used to draw in cooler outside air with the blower, which is a much lower energy draw. A couple high-end european cars already feature this. Any additional energy will be used to power the auxiliary electronics while running, or to "top off" the HV and LV batteries when the car is not running.

I believe that the "A/C" keyfob button is not a hoax, that it is probably to start the A/C compressor remotely, perhaps 30-60 seconds before you get into your car (whatever the radio range of the keyfob). It will probably have a timeout function in case you inadvertently press the A/C button just after you park the car.

I think the Prius will use a combination of continuous blower operation (thermostat controlled), along with the option to start the A/C just before getting in the car, certainly within the capacity of solar panels.

Data from personal experiment: I parked my Prius in an open black asphalt parking lot, with the temperature 110 degrees outside and the sun high overhead. After a short time, the temperature inside the car rose to 160 degrees. I got in the car and ran just the blower continuously for 30 minutes, windows still up, and the inside temperature dropped back down to 120 degrees. I then turned the A/C on full blast for about a minute, which knocked it down another 20 degrees. Getting into a car that's 100 degrees is way better than 160 degrees!

 

panic button is for someone attacking you, and yes, people actually pay attention to loud noise... especially attackers/thiefs.

as to the A/C sounds pretty cool, as it is awfully hot in the summer here... that list of new features is piling up for sure

 

http://www.organizitco.com/documents/Socal.com-Americanslovetheirstuff.pdf

by most you mean 30% of america using it for storage?

and:

By 1990, 72 percent of new houses came with two-car garages, and the two-car garage was standard in 55 percent of American homes, census figures show. By 1995, 76 percent of new homes had at least a two-car garage. (Realty Times - The Garage: Not Just For The Car)

so I would call that most people parking in a garage my man

and if you didnt know solar panels needed charging google solar panel

 

by pay attention you mean oh crap someones car alarm is going off by accident again thats so annoying

 

Solar panel will top off the HV battery while you are away. As you approach your Prius, you have two choices:

A) Press the A/C button to condition the air (either cool or heat up) using the energy from the FULL HV battery.

B) Use the FULL HV battery power to get higher MPG or further EV range.

 

OK, since you couldn't just tell me, I conferred with my good friend, Google.

... as I already suspected, solar panels don't get charged, the batteries attached to them get charged. Solar panels do the charging, they don't get charged.

 

I'll second that! The current generation key looks way nicer. Those look like something I would expect from the General. hwell: