Solar panels on a pip?

not from toyota unless you buy the part for the non pip and try to adapt it somehow. probably would be cheaper to buy a flexible solar panel and glue it on or something.

 

and you are planning to power what with it?
If it has a 12 VDC or better, you can trickle charge the AUX battery and does about it.

 

i guess you could put a little fan in the window.

 

I had discussed this with Mitch, when I picked up my spare tire. Mitch thinks it may have to do with the weight of the glass. I beleive the PIP battery weighs more, so it may have to do with the weight of the car and MPG.
A sunroof would have been nice, as well as the solar panels on these hot summer days.

Anyway, I am still enjoying the car, and recently recorded 850 miles on a tank of gas, and the fill cost me 27.00.

 

Check out our spreadsheet for other members' MPGs

PiP MPG Spreadsheet

 

The solar panel on the roof is only 59w. It only powers a small recirculation fan in the A/C system (not the A/C). In full sun it would take 68 hours to charge the 4kw traction battery.
You can go to a company that installs Webasto moonroofs and get that for about $1500. My Prius has the solar/moonroof. the solar panel is cool technology, but it really is more of a gimmick. I wanted the moonroof.

 

Even if you covered the roof of the car in one massive solar panel it would only produce a trickle of power that might give you a mile or two after being parked in the sun all day. You might get 5 miles or so after a week parked like that.

Perhaps you're better just getting solar on your house roof and using that instead.

 

You can always have the american flag painted on the roof and maybe the stars of it matching the hail dents.

 

I applaud you for just asking the question. I enjoy people who think outside the box even if the conclusion arrives at what occurred here. I would love a solar panel on mine too Jimbo but thought the weight issue was probably the reason why they didn't offer it too. We live in interesting times. Both scary and wonderful at the same time. It's great to be able to connect with other Prius owners here.

Cheers

 

The usable battery capacity is only around 2.8 kWh and the output of the solar panel is DC, not AC. DC-DC converters are around 95% efficient, compared to the 85% efficiency of the Prius Plug-in battery charger which has to rectify AC to DC. So the charging time in full sun would be closer to 2800 / 59 / .95 = ~50 hours.

 

right you are! Still a lousy proposition.
I guess the fan works to a point - it is easier to cool hot, fresh air than hot, stale air. The real heat, though is not the air, but the massive front dash. It sucks up the heat and radiates its for quite some time.

 

While this idea may be impractical for most folks, it could work for me. My employer will not respond to written requests to install 110v outlets and dedicated EV parking spot signs, so I currently cannot charge at work. I typically work for 4 days straight, which this time of year could yeild nearly 50 hours of sunlight.

I'm less interested in the OEM 59W panel than I am in a flexible mat that I can use as an external windshield shade, like this 4 1/2 lb 62W panel:



Mounting on the windshield would not only shade the interior more effectively, but angle toward the sun more efficiently (at my latitude, anyway).

Can any of you smart folks think of a way to wire up a solar panel to charge the traction battery?

 

methinks you need an entire car cover.

 

And trailer!

 

You jest, but that's not a bad idea. Again, anyone think it possible to rig up electronics to charge the traction battery?