Quote:
Originally Posted by Phase
it would be nice for solar to help charge the HV battery. free energy is free energy
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Yep. The Prius needs a new HV battery and I'm tempted to install a Nexpower Lithium Project Prius battery which holds more Ah than the NiMH battery but costs about the same as an OEM battery, and then put a solar panel on top of that.
Since having my Leaf, I've envisioned a canopy solar panel, one that sits up off the top of the vehicle, is thin, and is curved to the contour of the air flow. If placed over a vehicle with a boat tail, I do believe that up to 2kW would be possible. Even at 1kW, that would possibly get me enough juice I could drive off electricity entirely from my place of work and back to my house every day instead of getting a pathetic 25mph in my Prius because of the short distance and never warming up the engine fully. Even now I sometimes don't get past 110°F engine temps from point A to point B.