Prius solar roof cools interior of car-so?

[Russell]

Prius has an available Solar Roof, which powers interior fans and helps cool the inside of the car while the engine is off.

Hah, my 14 year old e34 does this.

Even so I bet improvements in solar panel AND battery technology will make this option do much more than power fans. it will recharge batteries, power car in motion and even turn on an electric AC unit to cool parked cars during hot days.

Perhaps even make coffee.

[paanta]

It's definitely a bit gimmicky, but hey, a lot of useful technology starts out as a dumb gimmick. A few million cars saving a kwh every day is a not-insignificant amount of juice.

For now I'll let the greenies pay the R&D costs, though.

[Bill R.]

It's definitely a bit gimmicky, but hey, a lot of useful technology starts out as a dumb gimmick. A few million cars saving a kwh every day is a not-insignificant amount of juice.

For now I'll let the greenies pay the R&D costs, though.

Sorry, Greenies aren't paying for this technology... Mazda had solar ventilation on the 929 back in 93... and others have had it since. Toyota is just offering an improved version which helps gas mileage on the prius since the Electric a/c compressor doesn't have to run as long to cool the car down

[paanta]

Sorry, Greenies aren't paying for this technology... Mazda had solar ventilation on the 929 back in 93... and others have had it since. Toyota is just offering an improved version which helps gas mileage on the prius since the Electric a/c compressor doesn't have to run as long to cool the car down

Prius owners are paying for the R&d to take the tech to the next level is all. Heck I think the sharper image had a little sunroof vent powered by the sun even before mazda.

[Russell]

heck, i don't think that I would turn on parked ventilation on my car even if i could figure it out. i don't want that 20 ampere fan sucking down juice for any amount of time if the stinking courtesy light is able to kill the battery on its own.

our good chi-com friends at the harbor freight have something that will do this for IIRC <$20. i'm thinking i need to get one of those before summer rolls around again. it has been at least 1 1/2 years since i drove the e34 in the summer.

I put a new battery on a couple years ago and have no trouble running the fan for up to 30 minutes late in the afternoon just before I leave the office. Really helps. For the first 4 years of ownership, I had no idea how to make it work!

[Russell]

Prius has an available Solar Roof, which powers interior fans and helps cool the inside of the car while the engine is off.

Hah, my 14 year old e34 does this.

Even so I bet improvements in solar panel AND battery technology will make this option do much more than power fans. it will recharge batteries, power car in motion and even turn on an electric AC unit to cool parked cars during hot days.

Perhaps even make coffee.

I understand that MIT battery research has discovered a technique to recharge lithium-ion batteries in seconds. This has great potential for all sorts of uses including vehicles depending on production feasibility.

I also heard that solar/lithium-ion alternate power sources for homes are at the conceptual stage. They could supplement the power grid and/or serve as emergency power sources. Perhaps even replace today's power grid in some cases. Of course it all depends on significant advances in solar cell and battery technology. Very interesting stuff. Sorry to ramble.

[paanta]

I understand that MIT battery research has discovered a technique to recharge lithium-ion batteries in seconds. This has great potential for all sorts of uses including vehicles depending on production feasibility.

I also heard that solar/lithium-ion alternate power sources for homes are at the conceptual stage. They could supplement the power grid and/or serve as emergency power sources. Perhaps even replace today's power grid in some cases. Of course it all depends on significant advances in solar cell and battery technology. Very interesting stuff. Sorry to ramble.

Yeah, the problem is getting all that juice TO the battery. The Tesla test on Top Gear with the 12+ hour recharge is a good example of how far the grid is from being able handle the demands of rechargeable cars. I suppose we'd be ok if we all had monster capacitor banks in our houses to dump to our cars.

This stuff is fascinating, and ultimately it's what's going to save humanity from walking when the oil dries up. I'm totally looking forward to a viable electric retrofit to my E34 in 30 years.