Prius to Get Solar Panels?

Total marketing crap… solar has no place in the transportation market

Take a look at http://www.Aptera.com.

The Aptera has a solar panel integrated into the roof to run a heat pump instead of a typical air conditioner.

Aptera has said it will begin production in October from a factory in Carlsbad, CA. Very cool and zippy looking to boot.

Nothing like a gimmick, I suppose, to make the gullible public
think something significant is here. Appaently they need something to keep the natives from getting restless while they spend the next 4 years figuring out how to use those li ion batteries they so compleyely rejected just 3 months ago, but are now going into their plug-in hybrid.  Toyota sucks.

Thanks for pointing out Aptera. I like its futuristic design. We also have written about LA-based Venture Vehicles, which is developing a plug-in hybrid and an all-electric two-seaters.

Why not use the solar panels to charge the batteries while the car is parked outside during the day?  Your commute home from work could be free (on sunny days, at least). 

Test. Please delete.

It’s clear that you won’t get much extra mileage from the solar panel.
Instead, it could and should run the air conditioning system,
also when the car is parked in the sun, and nobody’s there.
Makes sense also with all the ordinary ICE-cars, maybe even more.

This is not a new idea, see e.g.

http://www.webasto.com/press/en/3023_4983.html

The idea of using solar energy to power the air conditioning sounds great. The issue is price, isn’t it? Audi A8 is not affordable to the masses. So car makers aren’t going to make much money from offering that option, and solar cell makers aren’t going to make much money from selling to car makers—at least not now.

Solar Electric Vehicles published a white paper about how far you can go per day with a Prius relying only on solar power from the panels on the car’s roof: 5-8 miles. So you can reduce gas consumption, but can’t ditch it completely. The paper is at http://www.solarelectricalvehicles.com/articles/prius-white-paper.shtml.

What did I say? Now see this
http://www.pr-inside.com/report-toyota-plans-solar-powered-air-r688943.htm

2008-07-07 05:39:12 -

TOKYO (AP) - Toyota’s ecological Prius gas-electric hybrid will become even greener next year with solar-powered air conditioning on some high-end models, The Nikkei reported Monday.
The solar panels on the roof of the new Prius model will provide 2 to 5 kilowatts of electricity, the major Japanese business daily said in a report without
citing sources.

...
Adding solar panels to a mass-produced vehicle would mark a first for a major automaker, The Nikkei said.

I’m sorry, we seem to be quoting from the same source…