Solar Prius kit

Interesting but I struggle to believe the small area of the roof is big enough to make much difference. I love to have someone independent from the seller, maybe someone from PriusChat test the car they have the system fitted to for a week. Would the potential of a bulk order from PC members convince them to let someone have their car for a week? If not, I'd be even more sceptical.

I'd love it to work mind you.
I'm also not sure I want to park out doors when I currently park under cover almost all the time. How would the value of the fuel saved compare to the cost and emissions of a respray?

 

To all of our resident EEs and electric gurus:

What will 215 watts give you -- when linked to a 3kW supplemental battery?

 

An interesting alternative to Plug-in and Hymotion at best, or a possible supplement to those systems at worst. Of course, the question is whether it works as claimed or not.

 

As far as I could tell, from a quick read of the info on their site, the MPG claims were for a solar system tied in to a plug-in conversion.

I don't know whether they've made any claims about actual MPG gains by having the solar panel only. It would vary, rather dramatically, perhaps, based on locale. Living in Northern Illinois, where I garage my car all Winter long, and most of the Spring and Fall also, I don't see the solar bit giving me much at all.

I'd love to be proven wrong!

1100

 

I just called Solar Prius and the solar system can be used independently or as a supplement to the Plug-in & Hymotion systems. The cost is just a flat $3500 for the add-on to an existing Plug-in or Hymotion system, or $5250 for the independent solar/plug-in system installed.

The question again is whether it works or not. As an independent system, Solar Prius' claims in the flyer are pretty meager. Assuming, a 34% improvement in gas mileage with the system at 45 mpg (overall), you'd only save about 756 gallons over 100,000 miles, which equals 75.6 gallons/10,000 miles or only about $189/10,000 miles or 1.89 cents per mile at $2.50 a gallon (which is currently at the high end of gas prices). As a supplement to an existing Plug-in/Hymotion system, you're probably still going to have to recharge some overnight and are going to save even less as a result.

Given this data, it hardly seems worth paying $5,250 for the Solar Prius as an independent system or $3500 for it as a Plug-in/Hymotion supplement, but, as it's been said before, it's not about recouping the installation cost, so much as it's a "statement" about supporting "green" technology and reducing (as much as possible) the use of fossil fuels and their pollution effects.

Still a difficult call for me and things are changing in this area so rapidly that I'm going to continue to wait for more information.

 

I am with you Marty!

If gas prices go back up, the saving may be worth it. The 90 day warranty scared me off as well as the price of just the one year warranty! What would happen if the solar panel failed 6 months down the road or even 13 months? what would happen if you got stuck in a hail storm? Would your insurance company pay for a damaged solar panel thar was added as a modification?

Just some concerns of mine!

 

It certainly is pricey - essentially a single 215 watt panel for $3500. On a really sunny long day with no shading, you might net 2 kWh from this - or the equivalent of 12 - 40 cents of electricity depending on your rates. I like the idea though. In coming years, if they increase the efficiency of thin film solar, I could see such a panel producing 5 kWh a day, essentially providing for 15 - 20 EV miles.

 

Concept from Left Field (I LOVE it out here)

What about tagging this Solar Roof Kit with the Engineer Plug-In?

 

This kit has been discussed a number of times. The general consensus is its cool but makes no sense whatsoever. In many places $1-2k after incentives will put more than enough solar on your roof to cover your entire PHEV charging.

You can get a rough idea how much power this would generate by plugging in numbers to the calculator here:
PVWATTS v. 1

The calc doesn't go below 1kW, so I put in 1kW, 90% efficiency (basically charging efficiency), and then scaled the result by 0.215. You also need to put in a tilt of 0 degrees, since its basically flat. This gives the result:
Phoenix: 973 Wh/day Av.
Atlanta: 827 Wh/day Av.
Cheyenne: 817 Wh/day Av.
Green Bay: 697 Wh/day Av.
Burlington: 689 Wh/day Av.
Portland: 630 Wh/day Av.

By comparison, in Phoenix with our sunshine and incentives $3,500 would buy you something like this 5.3kW kit:
ASG Power 5,280 watt Schott Grid Tied Kit
($20,235 + DIY setup + ~$1,800 mounts, shipping, electrician hookup, - $11,118 Util Rebate - $1,000 State Tax Credit - $6,671 Federal Tax Credit = $3,447). For the same price this kit would put out ~23.4 AC kWh per day, 24.1X what the car mounted kit would. You are also pumping power into the grid when it is most under strain (and at its dirtiest), and pulling power out at night when power is being wasted at idle power plants.

23.4kWh AC would probably cover roughly 70-90 miles of EV driving per day. 600-900Wh would cover more like 2-3 miles per day. Also bear in mind that if you park your car in the sun, it will heat up, meaning you have to run the AC harder to cool the car down. Here in AZ the difference between parking in the shade and parking in the sun could easily consume more energy than this solar panel puts out.

Rob