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7th-July-2008, 10:23 AM
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Eco Warrior
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Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 909
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Prius to be part solar powered
Toyota is planning to add solar-powered air conditioning to high-end models of its Prius hybrid cars, a report says.
BBC NEWS | Business | Prius 'to be part solar-powered'
Not as impressive as the headline suggests, but it's a start I guess.
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7th-July-2008, 10:45 AM
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Eco Nut
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Posts: 230
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sparky
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This is great news indeed.
Did they really say 2-5kW?!?
__________________
Attack is invisible. Awareness is no escape.
"ROAR LIKE A BOAR!"
Don't lick the earth. (Tesla???)
"I would far rather be happy than right, any day."
"And are you?"
"No. That's where it all falls down, of course." - Douglas Adams
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7th-July-2008, 11:15 AM
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Moderator
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Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 2,333
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Fantastic news and further evidence that electric vehicle technology has truly arrived. It's real, it here and it's practical in this day and age. I say, bring it on ! This is a significant milestone for the direction of the electric vehicle industry. It's surely only a matter of time before they adopt solar panels in "all electric" i.e. non hybrid vehicles also. I expect this could help boost range along with regenerative braking and regenerative shock absorbers or simply separate shock / vibration generators and a Stirling engine generator as part of a more evolved setup.
See also;
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2...07/2296277.htm
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5...nQ1BLbfjow13ew
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2008/07/co...in_2009-2.html
http://www.livenews.com.au/articles/...than_you_think
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Tomorrows realities, emerge from today's dreams. Live the dream !
Cheers, 007
Green Instantaneous Energy ! Massive Electrical Storage !  Ultracapacitors Minutes Charging
Disclaimer. Interpret posts with discretion. Conduct research and investigations to satisfy your judgement.
Last edited by LMagic007; 7th-July-2008 at 11:28 AM.
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7th-July-2008, 11:26 AM
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Eco Nut
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Posts: 230
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sparky
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This is great news indeed.
Did they really say 2-5kW?!?
__________________
Attack is invisible. Awareness is no escape.
"ROAR LIKE A BOAR!"
Don't lick the earth. (Tesla???)
"I would far rather be happy than right, any day."
"And are you?"
"No. That's where it all falls down, of course." - Douglas Adams
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7th-July-2008, 11:35 AM
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Moderator
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Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 2,333
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The article says it, though I would be very surprised if it could generate that much power, but lets not be too negative, it's still great news. I would have thought 500 watts would have been impressive. They may have meant kWh. i.e. killowatt hours. At 5 hours sunlight thats 2.5 kWh per day notwithstanding bad weather would reduce that average.
__________________
Tomorrows realities, emerge from today's dreams. Live the dream !
Cheers, 007
Green Instantaneous Energy ! Massive Electrical Storage ! Ultracapacitors Minutes Charging
Disclaimer. Interpret posts with discretion. Conduct research and investigations to satisfy your judgement.
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10th-July-2008, 09:43 AM
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Eco Warrior
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Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Humberside
Posts: 774
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Didn't I read about solar paint not so long ago? Maybe they could paint cars in that in future rather than sticking cells on the roof.
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15th-July-2008, 03:42 AM
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Banned
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Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 2
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It's about time...
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22nd-July-2008, 12:10 AM
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Sapling
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Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 12
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That's pretty awesome. Nice to finally see a major car company begin to tap solar power.
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22nd-July-2008, 12:43 AM
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Moderator
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Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 1,140
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Deathridesahorse
This is great news indeed.
Did they really say 2-5kW?!?
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Quote:
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some of the two to five kilowatts used by the air conditioning system, it reported.
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is what was reported.
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22nd-July-2008, 01:42 AM
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Forum Hermit
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Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: USA
Posts: 1,200
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I kinda hoped for more from this to be honest. When something as low tech as breaking can produce a whole lot of power I would have expected something as high tech as solar to do more than power a part of the aircon system.
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