Our spies, who had a closer look at the car, told us that particular attention was paid to covering the roofs of these prototypes "leaving us to wonder if there is simply another glass roof underneath, or some sort of solar panel".
Glass roof? Solar panel (but that would cover the entire roof surface area, no?), simple design (allowing additional head room for a rear middle seat) - or just a prop by a GM engineer???
I have to say as a Volt owner, and potential NG Volt owner; I am curious.
Here is what the (optional) solar sunroof looks like on the Audi A8. Note how the cells are built in to the glass - no bump.
the Prius MK III has a concave roof for aerodynamics and a lot of people complain about the LACK of a sun roof option
and for solar panels I believe the Prius offers one and so does the leaf both are for ventilating the car when parked to lesson the LOAD on the AirCon NOT to charge it
I could see charging the 12V system Battery but TOTALLY pointless for charging the traction BATTS
Total Recall Motors really blew it with the VaporVolt - off the shelf inefficient direct drive engine that doubles as a generator - should have been smaller and biodiesel tuned to a specific and efficient powerband and not tied to driving wheels in situations.
Also TRM should have priced this thing at the price of a Prius - yes, they would have lost money, but the more these products sold, the greater the economy of scale would have been dropping the breakeven point as Toyoduh did with the Prius.
Of course the styling was rancid - high belt line with horrific gimmick of black paint to make it seem lower. Interior looked like a child took his apple discard pile and threw it at the dash and saw what stuck. Looked cheap and felt it.
The sooner that this vehicle sells over 7,500 units per month the sooner it makes money. The problem is that it will never sell that many as long as TRM plays around with it as it has. Over at Cadihack, that VaporVoltless thing should have stickered at $39,995 which would have helped to build volume and then slowly the price could have been raised - same thing with the VaporVolt. Now both are being heavily discounted and the price point is a complete and utter joke.
It could be a false memory, but, I believe a solar cell roof was supposed to be an option. This was in the couple of years leading up to the release of the final production vehicle.
They have not done it because it would take a much larger roof to get enough solar cells to produce enough electricity to make it worthwhile. This is coming from a EE.
Even if you dressed the whole top side of the car in solar panels, it wouldn't provide a significant change in driving range. What would be helpful, however, is in extremely hot climates it could ventilate the interior when parked to limit the highly parasitic draw of cranking the A/C upon return. This could also come in handy to cool the battery pack, or heat it in cold weather to improve performance. That is, if we are in fact looking at a solar panel.
Exactly what I was going to say had you not done so already - although only the cooling part. Heating the battery pack would be insignificant. The cooling though leverages the small energy collected by the cell because it uses it to physically move thermal energy in air out of the vehicle. That is a very cost effective use of minimal energy.
In heating on a cold day you get no such leverage.
As a Volt owner I realize that panels wouldn't help charge the main battery and I've been thinking this is aerodynamics. But I will say that on a sunny winter day parked at work with no plug in that having panels to keep the car warm would be welcome as well as ventilation on a hot summer day.
"honey, can you pick me up at the Chevy dealership? The solar panel broke again. I know, I know typical GM stuff. They say the third times the charm though and I am confident they will fix it this time."
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