Solar Prius – a new way to gain efficiency for the japanese hybrid car

A Japanese newspaper reported recently that Toyota is going to be adding a solar powered Prius to the world’s most popular hybrid. Now don’t go getting too excited just yet – solar panels aren’t yet at a place where they can provide all the power your vehicle needs. Rather, they’ll be providing power for the electrical system, things like your air conditioner. That’s still a good thing since that power won’t have to be drawn from the large battery pack or gasoline powered engine, which will improve gas mileage. Plus it sounds cool to say that you have solar panels on your car – it sounds like you’re an extremely eco-frienly person, you know?

The system collects clean renewable solar energy and utilizes it to charge the supplemental and HV battery pack. The system can produce up to 1200 watt hours per day through the use of solid state electronics ( no moving parts).

It has an electronic mode range of 20 miles which is more than most Americans use in one day. Saying that you can expect it to improve your fuel economy anywhere between 17 and 29% which is pretty nice with today’s outrageous gas prices. If you are handy with tools, odds are you can install the system yourself in about 2 to 3 hours, but Solar Electric Vehicles (SEV) the sister company of Solar Electrical Systems recommends it be installed by a professional technician. The system will function on the HV batteries and once the batteries have been depleted the hybrid system will pick up and go with the electrical mode and internal combustion engine