I was initially excited and pleased about the idea of a solar roof on the 2023 Prius. Getting hundreds of extra yearly miles from the sun is a very appealing prospect. (I have long advocated for the hood of the car to be a solar panel, in addition to the roof. Every summer my car spends countless hours sitting in the sun. Two solar panels can produce a lot of battery charging. Moreover, solar panels are getting more efficient all the time, especially quality panels made the the likes of Panasonic.) Then I read it's available only on the Prime. I find myself again asking, "Why Toyota?" They previously had it on a regular Prius. I wish they would make it available for the hybrid.
I know there was a solar roof option on an earlier Prius but I don't think that one had any connection to the traction system either, it was purely for HVAC purposes if I remember correctly.
You remember correctly. I have the older version, and it is not tied to propulsion. Ventilation only, when parked. There was once some chatter here that it was originally intended to be tied to the traction battery, but that was scrapped when technical issues were not resolved.
i doubt the size of the traction battery would be big enough to make it cost effective. it's probably not cost effective on the prime
The ventilation is convenient ... it does, no kidding, move enough air to keep the cabin temperature less awful when parked in the sun. A number of PriusChatters have also tapped it to maintain the 12 volt battery. In pandemic conditions, that proved super-convenient for a car kept outside and not used much. Maintaining the battery didn't even diminish the solar ventilation appreciably.
From what I have read so far, it seems Canada will not get the solar roof at all; the Prime will optionally have the fixed glass roof instead, like the regular Prius. That is completely fine with me, as I think that is a more valuable feature IMO, and probably less expensive. Not sure what the cost of the solar roof is, but doubtful you will have an energy ROI on it over the life of the vehicle given the low energy yield from solar panels today, so it is mainly a “cool” feature to show off. It is still nicer than a plain roof, however, and does look cool. Personally, I think the openness of the glass roof provides more enjoyment than a solar roof which may give a couple miles per day during sunny days. But to each their own.
Honestly, in the Prius Hybrid, how do you get any miles from the battery alone? Reverse is all battery, and some slow speed (parking lot) driving is battery only, but anything more than that is Hybrid (ICE + battery) driving. I can't imagine you'd see any benefit to a solar panel charging the Hybrid battery at all.
I had a SIMILAR Thought/Analysis about the Electric part of my Gen3 PHEV. But I only thought it may be worth since it gave me $2000 tax cut, California HOV Decal, free charging at work(really it may not add up a lot though). Overall, if you get such new "cool" stuff for really low "I" part of "ROI", its okay but just to be "cool", its not worth, as you said.
Solar gets less productive at higher latitudes. The light has to travel through more air before reaching a panel. Then the panels on a car are at an even less ideal position in those regions. The solar roof was conceived for places with expensive energy and/or more limited home charging; Japan. You could go maybe a mile with the right conditions. Realistically, starting with a fully charged battery all the time will just lead to more gas being wasted during warm up for most people.
The Gen 3 strategy was kind of smart: the panel isn't there to contribute to driving, but to do useful things while not driving (which might be more of the time, therefore able to soak up more rays). Keeping the cabin from getting hellishly hot is kind of a nice benefit. And once it's been modded to maintain the 12 volt battery, that's hugely useful if the car's not being driven often. And it turns out it can collect enough energy to pretty much cover the usage of my fridge when car camping. And that's a 2010-technology panel.
Not sure but its an experiment to study the real life adoption(like 3D Televisions few years back). Even Hyundai also has introduced the solar roof few years back on one/some of its models and proven it to be "no-adoption" experiment.
I bought it, in a used car. If I'd been shopping new, maybe I would have balked at the price delta for it. But having it is cool.
Well, they were planning the solar roof for the Prime, and the Japan Prius was getting that, literally cool, IR reflecting paint color. Why no solar here has been covered, and the lack of that paint option was likely because it wasn't grey. Can the Prime with solar run the HVAC fans while the park is parked? They could, but are you allowed to?
