Toyota with solar panels

[nlm]

Kind of cool ... It's for the Prius though.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-9984384-54.html

The panels, which are expected to begin appearing on the high-end version of the gasoline-hybrid car as early as next spring, will supply part of the two to five kilowatts needed to power the air conditioning

[Nick]

It is a cool idea. I wonder what it will retail for.

[Keith DC5]

The next Prius will be a plug-in hybrid as well, using lithium ion batteries instead of nickel metal hydride. I'm more interested in the electronic water and oil pumps which we should see shortly. Currently everything is belt driven, so you not only lose power to drive the accessories, but it's very inefficient since pump speed/pressure is proportional to engine speed. In other words, the faster the engine spins, the faster the water pump vanes will spin.

Modern cooling systems need to be between ~190-200 degrees for the engine to work most efficiently. When you're cruising at highway speeds, you have lots of ram-air to cool the radiator, so you don't want the coolant to flow as quickly or it'll over cool the engine. However since your engine speed is high, the water flow rate is high, which leads to a cooler and more inefficient engine. The thermostat usually prevents this from occurring by acting as a regulator, but that's just an example of how electronic accessories will improve performance and efficiency. In fact, electronically controlled water pumps may eliminate the need for a thermostat depending on how it's configured, so that makes life easier for the tech and cheaper for the customer.

Without the engine driving the pump, you also have more available power at the wheels and better fuel economy.

[Nick]

I'm just curious to see what kind of battery technology is coming. Only problem with the current technology is the materials used is outdated and charging cycling when going uphill and downhill kills the battery faster. Hopefully, the Lithium Ion batteries will be able to withstand that charging cycle with hybrids.

[Keith DC5]

Yep battery technology is very primitive and that's basically the common factor holding back everything else. Be it hybrid vehicles, electric vehicles, hydrogen vehicles, they all rely heavily on batteries and as such they're all very limited by the lack of advancement in battery technology.