Solar-Assisted Toyota Prius Hybrid for 3,000 (a plug in hybrid with a Plus

[papau]

While not a "plug in" it has all it needs to be a plug in - plus SOLAR!

http://www.mixedpower.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=831

Solar-Assisted Toyota Prius Hybrid

<snip>The mono-crystalline photovoltaic panels Lapp is using are rated at an efficiency of 16.5 % and only became available commercially from SunPower in January of this year. His stainless steel, roof-mounted rack, which includes a streamlined leading edge and extends slightly over the rear window, can generate a total of 360 watt-hours of electric power from four 90 watt panels. It bolts into specially-designed brackets that fit into the existing roof channels in the first generation Prius."I chose the panels specifically because their dimensions match the width of the roof where the groove is very nicely and made for a very simple bolt-on structure", he explained.<snip>

"There just isn't equipment out there that you can buy that produces 300 volts DC from the PV panels… It's really the voltage conversion from the PVs to the 300 volts DC that is the tricky part. I chose a very simplistic way of doing that because it's what's affordable, not because it's the best way technically. I chose to convert the PV energy initially to 120 volts AC then upped that to 345 DC, and then rectify that back down to 300 volts DC through a pulse width modulator".<snip>


Lapp's system (costing CAD$3,000 -US$2564.00), including panels, roof rack, 70 amp hours of lead acid batteries and associated power electronics, inverters and converter weighs 65 kilograms (143 lbs). For funding reasons, he opted to pretty much leave the Toyota NiMH battery system and its controls alone. <snip>


"I have hardly been able to do any comparison runs like with the system on and with the system off. I do know that on the few runs I've made, I've been able to meet or exceed the very best mileage that I've ever gotten in the car under ideal driving conditions in the past. Just on my drive into work, I‘ve been able to exceed those very best conditions, which was down to about 3.9 liters per 100 kilometers". He quickly calculated that to be equivalent to 58 US miles per gallon. This compares to his normal commuting fuel efficiency which averaged about 50 mpg.<snip>