Toyota to sell solar panel-equipped Prius next year
Beginning in 2009:
The redesigned Prius will come equipped with solar panels on the roof, partly powering the air-conditioning system, which needs up to 5kw.
This should help a problem that I’ve seen. In really hot weather the gas mileage reported by the system drops by a good 5 MPG which I’ve been attributing to using the air conditioner. Believe it or not, I start to get annoyed when my mileage on a tank of gas is “only” 45 to 46 MPG when I’d been getting 50 to 51. Of course, even the lower value is three times better than I had with the Pathfinder.
