2010 3rd Generation Prius available with LED Headlamps

LEDBE
5

5kids

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I couldn't find that anyone posted this yet, but the new 3rd generation prius is available with LED Headlamps.
http://www.toyota.com/vehicles/minisite/prius/
Claim is more light and 20% energy reduction.
Its also available with a solar panel roof, however it doesn't look like its used for charging the battery, only for ventilating the interior on a hot day.
 
5kids said:
Its also available with a solar panel roof, however it doesn't look like its used for charging the battery
Click to expand...


:shakehead:confused::(:scowl:


How the hell hard would it be to use the panel as a slow charger, and even though it would not make a whole hell of a lot of difference it would be great press instead of it now being "we have this but it doesn't do what you want it to". Weak.
 
Thujone said:
:shakehead:confused::(:scowl:


How the hell hard would it be to use the panel as a slow charger, and even though it would not make a whole hell of a lot of difference it would be great press instead of it now being "we have this but it doesn't do what you want it to". Weak.
Click to expand...

Because the solar panel will produce a few watts, while the gas engine that charges the battery produces about 7*10^4 watts. Talk about a drop in the bucket. :shakehead:confused::(:scowl:
 
likeguymontag said:
Because the solar panel will produce a few watts, while the gas engine that charges the battery produces about 7*10^4 watts. Talk about a drop in the bucket. :shakehead:confused::(:scowl:
Click to expand...

After a brief search it looks like it is a 200watt panel. As I said above it is not a huge advantage but the thought of have a solar panel that is sitting there doing nothing when it could be doing a little something will be painful for people. Think about the people who buy a prius and tell me they wouldn't rather save a 1/8c of petrol and have this charge their battery all day.
 
Thujone said:
After a brief search it looks like it is a 200watt panel. As I said above it is not a huge advantage but the thought of have a solar panel that is sitting there doing nothing when it could be doing a little something will be painful for people. Think about the people who buy a prius and tell me they wouldn't rather save a 1/8c of petrol and have this charge their battery all day.
Click to expand...

Ok, 200 watts is actually a lot, and I do agree that it would be better to use that power for a purpose rather than letting it go to waste.

For reference, I just dug up some numbers on google, so I'm not sure of their accuracy, but anyway: The prius (current gen) battery is approx 1300 Wh, and it consumes approx 150-175 Wh/mile city and maybe 230-290 Wh/mile highway. A 200 W panel might save you a bit of fuel, yeah.
 
Thujone said:
:shakehead:confused::(:scowl:How the hell hard would it be to use the panel as a slow charger
Click to expand...

If you want to top off the little 12 volt battery, it could do that. The hacks should be out shortly after the cars arrive. It would be completely impractical to try and charge the traction battery. By design the traction battery is completely isolated from the world when the car is off. No path exists to sneak in a charge. If one did exist you would have the slight problem of stepping up the output from the panel to somewhere around 200 or 300 volts DC (Not sure what the '10 runs on) before it could charge the battery. This would give you maybe 200 watts/ 1/10,000 of an amp to charge with.
 
Ken_McE said:
If you want to top off the little 12 volt battery, it could do that. The hacks should be out shortly after the cars arrive. It would be completely impractical to try and charge the traction battery. By design the traction battery is completely isolated from the world when the car is off. No path exists to sneak in a charge. If one did exist you would have the slight problem of stepping up the output from the panel to somewhere around 200 or 300 volts DC (Not sure what the '10 runs on) before it could charge the battery. This would give you maybe 200 watts/ 1/10,000 of an amp to charge with.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't it be about .5A at that voltage (making some conversion efficiency assumptions)?
 
I'm surprised how un-noticed this feature of the new Prius is. Toyota doesn't seem to really stress on this particular equipment and auto reviewers barely talk or show interest about it.

On the contrary I think it's a huge step and achievement to see LED headlight (not just position lights, eventhough the high beam is not LED yet) implemented in a very widely available, and still affordable car. The Audi V12 R8 offers a full LED headlight option for like 9K$... not the same animal.

Anyone has a list of all current production car that have LED headlights (not just position)?
 
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ls600h, prius, r8.
trucklites makes LED headlamps for hummers. s'ok. well, imo they only work well in certain applications and would not be suitable for civilian, road use, and it would mostly be usable in a flat flat flat ____________ area with straight line roads only.
 
The Trucklite 7" heatlights are DOT approved. They have to be to go into a military over the road vehicle.

The Cadillac Escalade Diamond Edition has LED headlights also (high and low).
 
Besides the headlights, I wonder how much of the car is using LED over incandesent?

Isn't this model supposed to be Li-Ion instead of NiMH? Whatever the chemistry, there will be a self discharge rate. If that solar panel was employed it might offset that self discharge rate for long term parking.
 
Maybe this thread would have more info in the automotive section? :poke:

I'm interrested on any additionnal info on the LED headlamps of the new prius.

What LED is used, how's the tint, how many emitters, what drive current and output...
 
IMO the use of the solar panel as a means of ventilating the car on a sunny day, and nothing more, is fine. The reason? The ONLY time the solar cell will be producing any appreciable amount of energy is when the car outside under direct sun. Which is also when active cooling or ventilation is required. The greenhouse effect (in the literal sense) is also worst on modern aerodynamic cars like the prius because of the sloped windshield/ high glass surface area. I bet energy savings by reducing AC/fan load for people in sunny climates will still indirectly save as much fuel as directly recharging the battery from the solar cell.

Also, enabling the solar panels in the roof to charge the battery will require expensive circuitry to step up the low voltage solar cell to charge the high voltage battery pack. Most hybrids simply have a buck converter to step down the high voltage pack to 12V, in lieu of a standard alternator. Adding more charging circuitry is cost effective at all when it will be of no use at night, or when cars are parked in garages.
 
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You have a good point 2xTrinity. The best use of the small solar panel would be to vent the interior heat rather than trying to trickle charge the main battery. Still, I wonder how much such a trickle charge would offset the self discharge rate of the battery when parked long term.
 
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