I wonder if there is a market for a car cover that acts like a flexible solar blanket. Here in Texas it could offer your vehicle some protection from the Sun while charging it at the same time.
Toyota testing improved solar roof for EVs that can charge while driving
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Re: Toyota testing improved solar roof for EVs that can charge while driving
#12I live in a pretty hot city (My car's outside thermometer showed 48°C yesterday at midday).
The extended range is nice and all, but if somebody makes a car that can run the AC without running/draining the battery while it's parked, even if it's just a little to keep the car interior at 35°C or so, I would, without exaggeration, buy it the day it's released here. Hell, I'd consider it even if it would just keep the fans on to vent the hot air out.
Parking in the sun while doing errands, which often involve multiple short trips where the car's AC doesn't get enough time to cool it down, seems to be a very common cause of heat-stroke among white-collar workers here. I've had to go to the ER twice about it this summer alone.
Re: Toyota testing improved solar roof for EVs that can charge while driving
#13I live in a pretty hot city (My car's outside thermometer showed 48°C yesterday at midday). The extended range is nice and all, but if somebody makes a car that can run the AC without running/draining the battery while it's parked, even if it's just a little to keep the car interior at 35°C or so, I would, without exaggeration, buy it the day it's released here. Hell, I'd consider it even if it would just keep the fa…
how much power does an AC use (say on medium settings) ?
Re: Toyota testing improved solar roof for EVs that can charge while driving
#14Does the math check out? You would need about 10kW-h to get the claimed distance, times three for the efficiency (by the way, there are NO mass-produced cells with 34% efficiency; they must be using GaAs or multijunction cells to achieve 34%) means solar input of 30kW-h per day. The projected horizontal area of a Prius is 8m^2 (including the windows) so we need about 4 hours of 1000W/m^2 insolation. Which I guess isn't totally impossible. Typical average insolation at populous latitudes is around 200W/m^2.
Re: Toyota testing improved solar roof for EVs that can charge while driving
#15This is like any other concept car. It's a cool concept but won't make it to production. The commercial viability of this is far off. 34% solar is prohibitively expensive. You won't see these on cars until costs come down significantly.
Covering an entire Prius with exotic semiconductors is not the road to brisk sales.
Re: Toyota testing improved solar roof for EVs that can charge while driving
#16I live in a pretty hot city (My car's outside thermometer showed 48°C yesterday at midday). The extended range is nice and all, but if somebody makes a car that can run the AC without running/draining the battery while it's parked, even if it's just a little to keep the car interior at 35°C or so, I would, without exaggeration, buy it the day it's released here. Hell, I'd consider it even if it would just keep the fa…
It would also be cool, pun intended, to add windows with liquid crystals that can darken when parked to keep additional heat out.
Re: Toyota testing improved solar roof for EVs that can charge while driving
#17Triple junction GaAs based panels for a whole 860 watts of power in full sun at the right angle, no mention of cost.
Anybody know how much a panel like that goes for per watt now days?
Re: Toyota testing improved solar roof for EVs that can charge while driving
#18They are claiming up to 27.7mi per day left in the sun. If true, my 5mi commute each way would be possible without ever charging the vehicle in the summer... That being s said, curious how this holds up to weather (hail, snow, etc) and whether those numbers are accurate.
I think it will make a lot of sense for light vans. A lot more surface.
Re: Toyota testing improved solar roof for EVs that can charge while driving
#19Does the math check out? You would need about 10kW-h to get the claimed distance, times three for the efficiency (by the way, there are NO mass-produced cells with 34% efficiency; they must be using GaAs or multijunction cells to achieve 34%) means solar input of 30kW-h per day. The projected horizontal area of a Prius is 8m^2 (including the windows) so we need about 4 hours of 1000W/m^2 insolation. Which I guess isn…
Yes looks like GaAs: https://global.toyota/en/newsroom/corporate/28787347.html
Re: Toyota testing improved solar roof for EVs that can charge while driving
#20I live in a pretty hot city (My car's outside thermometer showed 48°C yesterday at midday). The extended range is nice and all, but if somebody makes a car that can run the AC without running/draining the battery while it's parked, even if it's just a little to keep the car interior at 35°C or so, I would, without exaggeration, buy it the day it's released here. Hell, I'd consider it even if it would just keep the fa…
Yeah I'd want that in a normal ICE car.