I was at a dealer the other day chatting up about the 2010 Prius and when I inquired about the solar release, I was told it will not be coming in until 2012, or so (that is the scuttlebutt there). He also commented that the plug-in will not be available until they get rights and manufacturing capacity ramped up... so likely not until 2011 or 2012. I found a video on Youtube of a guy who did a solar conversion to his car. This guy claims he gets an 'honest' 70mpg. On the video a comment is made (paraphrasing) "You buy gas so infrequently that you have to remember to buy gas when you need it." Here's the link:
Hard to believe that the solar is really doing that much. I wouldn't be surprised if the solar adds 1 -2 MPG and the rest is do to 'hyper miling' strategies. I'm saying this because there are a number of people on this board that claim they get 70MPG all the time. Solar cells just can't convert that much electricity.
You can't carry enough solar panels on a Prius to do any good for mileage. The added weight and drag will more than compensate for the little bit of generated electricity. If you really want a solar powered car, get a big PV setup for your house and buy an EV, which you can charge at home. Tom
Did you notice the solar battery pack was a series of sealed gel-cel batteries? I would guess each of those were about 5Ah for a total capacity of 300Ah or so (don't know the total number of batteries he has in there), raising the Prisus' capacity to over 2kWh. Seems to me he is likely hypermiling to get 70mpg.
