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Solar kit

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Fuel Economy' started by DanielDimov, May 10, 2007.

  1. DanielDimov

    DanielDimov New Member

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    The search doesn't work so excuse me if I post new topic without reason!

    My question is how is possible the solar kit to give 10% fuel economy when it's power is only 30 W ?!?

    At the moment I drive very old Toyota Corolla with installed propane-butane gas system. With 25 l gas daytime (headlights are off) I can drive 300 km. With same fuel but nighttime (headlights are on) I can drive 285 km. I assume that average consumption of the headlights is 100 W and driving time is 3 hours. So I calculated that my car extracts 240 Wh energy from 1 liter of gas and it needs 20 Wh energy to move 1 km.

    If Prius needs 10 Wh energy (half of mine) to move 1 km these solar panels will give only 3% more energy - not 10%

    Are these panels work all the time or they work only when the car is working?
     
    #1 DanielDimov, May 10, 2007
  2. dmckinstry

    dmckinstry New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DanielDimov @ May 10 2007, 09:36 AM) [snapback]439172[/snapback]</div>
    It wouldn't make sense to have them work only when the car is running. I don't know for a fact, but I'm sure they'd be designed to collect energy whenever sunlight is available. I certainly wouldn't consider purchasing any that didn't provide that opportunity. However, I probably wouldn't anyway. I'd do a PHEV conversion first, and we have hydroelectric around here, which is less expensive and less polluting than other publicly available electricity sources.

    Dave M.
     
    #2 dmckinstry, May 10, 2007
  3. ken1784

    ken1784 SuperMID designer

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    Prius requires about 200Wh/mile.

    Ken@Japan
     
    #3 ken1784, May 10, 2007
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