The solar roof that Toyota is offering as an option on its next-generation Prius hybrid sedan may be even less useful than expected, according to a report in the specialty publication EVWorld. The solar panels, reports EVWorld, will add not a microwatt of charge to drive the Prius.
Last summer, Technology Review looked at the potential impact of adding a solar roof to the Prius when rumors of Toyota’s plans first emerged. The clear conclusion of the experts was this: keep solar panels on rooftops, where they can be tilted toward the sun for maximum efficiency. A solar rooftop would be just a “marketing gimmick,” said Andrew Frank, a plug-in hybrid pioneer at the University of California, Davis, and chief technology officer for UC-Davis hybrid-vehicle spinoff Efficient Drivetrains.
Toyota, it turns out, won’t even bother plugging its solar rooftop panel into the 2010 Prius’s nickel-metal-hydride battery. EVWorld editor Bill Moore, citing a conversation with Akihiko Otsuka, chief engineer for the Prius redesign, writes that
Toyota tried it and apparently discovered that for not-entirely-well-understood reasons, connecting the PV panels to the battery turns them into an “antenna” of sorts, which at the very least seems to disrupt the car’s radio.
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