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Re:Toyota is trying to put solar panels on a Prius to charge... by Liquid_Fire on Friday September 13, 2019 @05:29AM (#20960521)
Why not do both?
Re:Toyota is trying to put solar panels on a Prius to charge... by dahfizz on Friday September 13, 2019 @07:38AM (#20961150)
Because resources are scarce. If solar panels were free, then yeah let's plaster them everywhere. But let's start with where they make the most difference.
Re:Toyota is trying to put solar panels on a Prius to charge... by jdnenej on Friday September 13, 2019 @05:52AM (#20960612)
Because very few people have covered every last spot on their roof so you would be designing a product suitable for very few people
Re:Toyota is trying to put solar panels on a Prius to charge... by Tade0 on Friday September 13, 2019 @06:45AM (#20960880)
Or for people who don't own a roof at all - plenty of such people in cities.
Re:Toyota is trying to put solar panels on a Prius to charge... by jdnenej on Friday September 13, 2019 @07:40AM (#20961164)
Those people also have their cars in multi level car parks with no sun so that doesn't work for them either. In that case they would be better having the car park have solar and the local government building solar farms. A panel on something almost always undercover makes no sense.
Re:Toyota is trying to put solar panels on a Prius to charge... by wongarsu on Friday September 13, 2019 @08:09AM (#20961337)
I live in an average residential street in Europe full of 3 story residential houses. Our house with 6 apartments has 3 garages, the majority park on the street.

Sure, the government or the electricity company could just install car chargers and put a solar plant to power that in some rural area. But if I want something now then buying a car is much simpler than lobbying for that.

Re:Toyota is trying to put solar panels on a Prius to charge... by kungtotte on Friday September 13, 2019 @06:24AM (#20960755)
Very few people have electric cars to begin with, and they're really expensive compared to ICE vehicles so you're already talking about a demographic that's demonstrated a willingness to pay a premium for driving an electric car.

If Tesla offered a "Solar Panel Kit" that made their cars even a few percent more efficient it would sell like hot cakes.