Uncle Sam Rolls In a 100-MPG Solar Plug-In Hybrid

[kristopher]

Tony Markel drives a plug-in hybrid that runs 50 miles per charge, goes 100 miles per gallon and gets power from the sun. If he has his way, you'll drive one too before long.

His 2006 Prius has a lithium-ion battery six times more powerful than the nickel-metal hydride pack Toyota put in it. But what makes the car really cool is the solar panel on the roof. It generates enough juice to go 5 miles.

Markel is a senior engineer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. He and his colleagues have been experimenting with the car for about a year in a quest to make lithium-ion batteries cheaper and more durable. "Those are the barriers -- battery cost and battery life," he says. "That's the main thing holding the technology back."

The way he sees it, though, the barriers won't stand much longer.

Automakers are chipping away at those barriers as well, and the lab hopes its research hastens the day when electricity supplants petroleum in our cars. "The landscape is changing quickly," he says, with plug-in hybrids and electric cars from General Motors, Toyota and Nissan looming on the horizon as early as 2010. They're all working with the leading battery makers to perfect the technology, and lab is working with battery maker A123Systems to bring improved thermal management to lithium-ion batteries...

http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/06/uncle-sam-rolls.html

[NNadir]

1. Wow!!!! Two hundred and fifty million of them?

We, and the car cult, are saved!!!!!!

I'm so relieved.

I was laboring under the clear illusion that the number of "solar cars will save the car cults" posts on this website easily outnumbers the number of actual solar cars produced in the last 50 years, but your brilliant, insightful, informed post has corrected me.

I had no idea that solar energy came in gallons - but now that I understand this, I feel so optimistic.

How many mpg does your solar car get?

[gristy]

2. If it gets its power from the sun, then it gets 100 miles per gallon of what?

The article provides no clue, not once mentioning that "100 miles per gallon" again.

[NV Whino]

4. Did you read the article?

It's a hybrid. Gas and electric.

With the improved battery and plug-in recharge and the addition of the solar charge, it gets 100 mpg. Just as the current hybrid gets 40 to 50 mpg.

[gristy]

5. Yes, I read the article

The vehicle gets infinite mpg over the first 5 miles, 100mpg over the first 10 miles, and settling down to 50mpg or so over long trips.

We're saved! :P

[FREEWILL56]

6. The Prius still has a gasoline engine and it does run every now and then

even with an improved battery pack and a solar panel.
Generally, I'm glad that somebody may have picked up on my idea to extend the highway operations of many hybrids by putting a pv on the car to help extend the runtime. I might add that battery capacity, size as in volume, and weight are 3 more factors not mentioned.

[NYC_SKP]

8. The article is poorly written, scientifically...

Like:
"But what makes the car really cool is the solar panel on the roof. It generates enough juice to go 5 miles."

I presume that they mean that one hour in the sun produces enough energy to take the car 5 miles.

100 MPG for a PHEV is a bit misleading, too, as it fails to mention the coal, natural gas, petroleum, etc., that may be burned to create the electricity, but it's accurate on it's face.

And, an infinite MPG vehicle is possible and in existence. No fossil fuels, no nuclear, geothermal, hydropower.

Give me an electric car or PHEV and a 2 kw photovoltaic grid-tied system and I'll be able to drive 100 miles a day, or more, and over the course of a year all of the energy will have been solar.

[jwirr]

3. Where are they made?

[NYC_SKP]

7. There are lots of start-ups here and abroad doing it.

For around $7,000 to 10,000, last I checked.
They're not terribly new but they are becoming more reliable.

The 165 watt solar panel on the car in the article was clever, but not of great use.

It should on a sunny day extend the 50 mile range by 5 miles, assuming 50 MPH.
It would be more useful if that 50 miles is several short trips over several hours.

Google PHEV kit and you'll get plenty of hits.

Here in California there are several conversion kit companies.

[kristopher]

9. I like the panel.

It serves a purpose beyond just 5 miles added capacity. 1) It is a reserve fuel tank ensuring you may be slowed down dramatically, but you won't be forever stranded should you run out of fuel. 2) It is application specific much as the hydraulic recovery system is in the UPS trucks. The panel is bound to fit the use profile of a certain percentage of drivers; and when it does, they will be able to get away with using almost nothing but solar. Go less than 5 miles, stop for 30 - 90 minutes several times a day is bound to be a pattern some people follow.

I think the aux tank concept is actually pretty strong.

[NYC_SKP]

10. What's the UPS hydraulic deal?

How ya doin, kris?

I was thinking about checking something with you.
I chatted over lunch with Jack McDermott of PG&E yesterday during a California Solar Initiative meeting.

Jack oversees most of the grid-tied solar interconnects and I thought he'd have a good answer to this question, but you might have a hard source.

I've been told more than once that PG&E is third in the world in solar installed capacity, after Germany and Japan.

Jack confirmed this and added that our rate of growth has us on track to overcome both other countries.

I think he said we're close to 250 MW. I cannot find any published data to back that up.

PG&E is a client firm and I could check with their training center library or with other folks, but it might take a while--it's a big corporation with multiple overlapping divisions.

Any suggestions?

[kristopher]

11. Let me look.

The regenerative hydraulic braking system? http://www.designnews.com/article/CA220671.html

Fleidermouse might have more information; he posts on it occasionally.

[kristopher]

12. I'd think the PG&E website has it buried in a database somewhere, but

I didn't look there yet. What I found at EIA might be helpful there are a lot of threads to pull...

http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/solar.renewables/page/solarreport/solar.html

Found it: http://www.pge.com/mybusiness/energysavingsrebates/solar/csi/csiprogramstatistics/

Click the PG&E CSI Program statistics link to download spreadsheet.

[NYC_SKP]

14. Thank you.

Nice work.

That spreadsheet indicates 112 MW, but that's only for those installations done under CSI.

It would not include whatever number of installations were done without applying for CSI support, those done before the program or done outside the program.

Jack's number of 250 MW suggests that CSI covers just about half of the total capacity.

I think I'll email him and I'll let you know what I hear.

If it's true that our service territory (not the entire state) is #3 with a bullet worldwide, it's good news and a great bragging point, like us or not!

I'll ask my friends at the CEC, too.

It's funny how elusive what seems like a simple statistic can be.

Barry

[kristopher]

15. Not so funny; I run into that problem often.

I Here is another page with links to some large projects (present and future). They seem to be taking a serious run at solar thermal. Links to each project's press release are active on original PG&E page.
http://www.pge.com/mybusiness/environment/pge/cleanenergy/

And a current report by the CPUC on solar has an index entry showing cumulative grid connected PV capacity from 81-06 with an estimate for 07. http://www.energy.ca.gov/2008publications/CPUC-1000-2008-002/CPUC-1000-2008-002.PDF.

This is the source they cite for the charted data in Figure 13, page 34:
Source: 1981-2006 data from California Energy Commission's Grid Connected PV Capacity Installed in California,
April 18, 2007. 2007 data is not statewide, only CPUC-CSI data in IOU territories. 2007 data is estimated capacity
expected to be installed based on applications received through September 18, 2007

[Gregorian]

13. He's right. It's the batteries. We've been trying to get this out to people.

We spend how many billions on war, and only fifty billion or so on renewable energy research.

It's the batteries. At least half of the equation. Because given a good enough battery, we can charge it with even a low efficiency energy source, given enough time. This is the key. Renewable energy source, and good batteries.

And we can do this for half the price of that stinking illegal invasion.

Good post. Thanks for posting it. There's no bs here.

[trof]

16. A question we've asked ourselves about our Prius:

Why aren't the hood and roof solar panels?
Heck, the entire exterior?