Solar panels on cars make no sense

Re:Solar panels on cars make no sense by coredog64 on Sunday January 29, 2023 @11:25AM (#34569581)

Toyota offered a solar roof option on the Prius for a short time. The intent was to provide power to run the AC for a car that wasn’t parked in the shade. I’ve worked at several offices where there was zero/limited covered parking and I would have grabbed this option for my Prius if it had been available.

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Re:Solar panels on cars make no sense by steveBK123 on Sunday January 29, 2023 @11:32AM (#34569665)

Toyota yanking the feature tells us something about the consumer uptake, cost-benefit, and ROI.

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Re:Solar panels on cars make no sense by brookst on Sunday January 29, 2023 @12:52PM (#34570642)

So what does Toyota re-introducing the feature this year[0] tell us?

0. https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a41978716/2023-toyota-priu...

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Re:Solar panels on cars make no sense by danuker on Sunday January 29, 2023 @01:19PM (#34570972)

Perhaps, the continuous price decrease of solar panels?

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Re:Solar panels on cars make no sense by parker_mountain on Sunday January 29, 2023 @03:37PM (#34572456)

It tells us that in the last 10 years or so, a component has had its price decrease and its efficiency increase. It also tells us that solar panels on a vehicle, even if they don't lead to huge benefit, make for great marketing.

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Re:Solar panels on cars make no sense by panick21_ on Sunday January 29, 2023 @12:30PM (#34570381)

With a modern electric car you just use your phone to turn on the AC before you get there.

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Re:Solar panels on cars make no sense by mcv on Monday January 30, 2023 @04:31AM (#34577610)

I don't waste the AC on something like that but just open all the doors for a minutes or so.

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Re:Solar panels on cars make no sense by agumonkey on Sunday January 29, 2023 @12:35PM (#34570440)

Also depending on the material, it could be a film to glide under windows, so youd avoid heating the car and getting current.

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Re:Solar panels on cars make no sense by fortran77 on Sunday January 29, 2023 @01:39PM (#34571199)

There may be a use-case for a small amount of solar panels just to pump air throught the car to keep the interior a little cooler. These won't have to integrate with the cars charging or storage system--they'd just have to power some small fans

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Re:Solar panels on cars make no sense by Scoundreller on Sunday January 29, 2023 @04:20PM (#34572880)

Or warmer after your vehicle has been parked all night and it’s now daytime and warmer outside than your vehicle’s interior.

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Re:Solar panels on cars make no sense by ecliptik on Sunday January 29, 2023 @01:44PM (#34571250)

We had a Prius with a solar roof. Wasn't by choice, just happened to come with it since the car had all the other options we wanted.

From what I remember it would periodically turn on the vents to circulate air when in full sun. Also had a button on the remote to startup the AC, which only worked within remote range.

Both features did make the cabin relatively cooler after being in the sun for a few hours. This was moderately useful in Southern California.

At the time reading about why it wouldn't trickle charge the battery had something to do with radio interference, which I feel was just an excuse to avoid hooking up a proper charging system. Doubt it would have made much of a difference anyway.

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Re:Solar panels on cars make no sense by Scoundreller on Sunday January 29, 2023 @04:19PM (#34572866)

Features like this are a huge boon for in-vehicle air quality.

Stepping into a new car that’s been sitting in the sun can’t be healthy.

I just wish parked vehicles could automatically crack the windows open, but shut them if it’s raining/snowing.

Maybe some geo-fencing so it only does it in relatively “safe” locations.

Would also be beneficial in cold weather climates: it’s colder at night, so it would be warmer when I enter in the morning if it let the warmer morning air in.

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Re:Solar panels on cars make no sense by ggreer on Sunday January 29, 2023 @05:01PM (#34573246)

EVs can do this without significantly depleting the battery. Every Tesla keeps the cabin temperature below 105°F as long as the battery is above 20% charge.[1] You can also turn on the climate control from your phone, making the car a comfortable temperature before you get in it.

1. https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/model3/en_us/GUID-4F3599A...

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Re:Solar panels on cars make no sense by sbierwagen on Sunday January 29, 2023 @04:39PM (#34573046)

The first gen Nissan Leaf EV had a small solar panel on the roof to run a ventilation fan: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nissan_LEAF_SL_Solar_Sp...

It seems to have been dropped in the model refresh, I can't see it in any of the exterior photos and it's not mentioned in the 2022 owner's manual.

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Re:Solar panels on cars make no sense by quintushoratius on Sunday January 29, 2023 @07:49PM (#34574499)

Our Leaf has a small solar panel, but it's for maintaining the 12v battery. It's much too small (it might be a 1/2 square foot IIRC) to the generate significant amounts of voltage and power needed to charge the main battery.

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