John Ryden is an Engineer with a background in Finance and Economics. Here he will discuss how energy production, energy use, and conservation affect us and the rest of the world with a focus on the economic implications.

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Solar cells on electric cars make cents

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July 10, 5:23 PM

by John Ryden, Global Warming Examiner

Toyota Prius

Adding solar cells to any electric car will reduce the cost to operate the car and reduce consumption of oil. It can also make economic sense.

Toyota announced that they would be adding solar cells to their popular Prius electric hybrid. The intention is to use the solar cells to power the air conditioner. It would be better to have the solar cells recharge the battery, although a large enough battery for the plug-in Prius may have to wait until 2010.

Let’s assume that Toyota puts solar cells with 200 watts of power on the car. With 6 hours of charge time, the battery could gain 1.2 KW hours of power. That amounts to equivalent of about 1/10th gallon of gasoline. Assuming $4 per gallon for gasoline, that provides a payback of $0.40 per day or $146 per year. Assuming that the solar cells cost an extra $2,000 then the rate of return on the solar cells is 7.3%, and you are making a small contribution to cleaning up the environment. The solar cells may be eligible for a tax credit, which would make the rate of return higher.

Let’s say you use your Prius to commute to work 15 miles each way. Let’s also assume that you can charge the 1.2 KWh battery at home before you leave and that you travel slow enough to use the entire 1.2 KWh of power on the 15 mile trip to work. The car gets about 50 mpg so the battery could power 1/3 of the trip. On the trip to work you get 75 mpg. On the way home, the solar panels recharge the battery and you again get power for 1/3 of the trip. You get 75 mpg on the way home. You save 1/10th of a gallon of fuel. If you didn’t recharge at work you would burn 0.5 gallons netting 60 mpg.

Shorter trips with longer stays would produce higher gas mileage while longer trips would produce gas mileage closer to 50 mpg.

Solar cells on cars make more cents than solar cells on houses. On a house you are replacing utility power at a rate of 8 cents to 15 cents per KWh. Replacing gasoline for 40 cents (or higher) produces a greater economic return. The rate of return for putting solar cells on cars is great enough to justify demand without incentives, which should be good news for the solar cell manufacturers. This would be particularly true for solar companies that make very efficient solar cells as surface area on the car is limited.

For more info:

More details on Toyota's solar-powered Prius
Toyota to add solar panels to Prius hybrid: Nikkei

Topics: Global Warming , gasoline , electric car , hybrid electric , Prius , Toyota

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Bush signs $25 billion loan guarantee to auto industry postponing their collapse

6 comments

October 1, 3:12 PM

President Bush signed the bill authorizing $25 billion in loan guarantees to the auto industry. U.S. auto companies are being hammered by high gasoline prices, weak consumer spending, the credit crisis, and tough competition from foreign imports.U.S.... Read More
Topics: Global Warming , oil , gasoline , GM , consumption tax , John dingell , loan guarantee

Off shore oil development is back on - for now

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September 30, 3:47 PM

Little noticed during the congressional debate on the financial bailout plan has been the passing of continuing resolution for funding the government into next year. With the partisan rancor in congress and the upcoming election, a lot of spending bills... Read More
Topics: Bush , oil , Alternative Energy , nuclear , McCain , oil shale , Obama , Nancy Pelosi , California , offshore drilling

Chavez to sell China oil currently going to US

2 comments

September 24, 4:42 PM

Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, is currently in China making deal to supply China with up to 1 million barrels of oil per day by 2011. Under the agreement, China will invest $4 billion in Venezuela’s oil industry to secure this supply of oil.... Read More
Topics: China , oil , ExxonMobil , Mexico , offshore drilling

Arctic sea ice second lowest coverage on record

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September 23, 5:11 PM

NASA reported that Arctic sea ice reached its lowest extent for the year on September 16th. Each year the sea ice cover contracts during the summer and then grows again during the winter. The maximum extent is in March of each year.This year the sea... Read More
Topics: Global Warming , Greenhouse , Arctic , Methane

Global warming costs from Hurricane Ike

1 comment

September 17, 4:51 PM

Damage in Florida from Hurricane Andrew in 1992The amount of damage from Hurricane Ike is going to total in the tens of billions of dollars. I have seen estimates where the insured costs are likely to be as high as $20 billion.This is going to be... Read More
Topics: hurricane , hurricane ike

Hurricane Ike – in harms way

3 comments

September 15, 3:22 PM

Hurricane Ike has moved out of Texas, but left a wake of destruction in its path. It appeared that the hurricane started moving North just before landfall. This moved the eye right over Galveston. I was watching some of the Fox live coverage with Geraldo... Read More
Topics: Global Warming , hurricane ike

Hurricane Ike storm surge could be greater than Katrina

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September 12, 7:54 PM

Hurricane Ike is heading towards Galveston, Texas. The storm is a Category 2 storm, very close to Category 3 strength. The storm is huge. Hurricane force winds extend up to 120 miles from the center. Tropical Force winds extend out to 275 miles.The potential... Read More
Topics: Global Warming , hurricane , ike

Natural gas producer promoting – natural gas

1 comment

September 12, 4:01 PM

CNG-NOW!Chesapeake Energy Corporation is promoting the use of compressed natural gas (CNG) as an alternative to gasoline in cars. Chesapeake Energy Corporation is the second-largest independent producer and third-largest overall producer of natural gas... Read More
Topics: Global Warming , Bush , Carbon Dioxide , natural gas , natural gas vehicle , CNG

Congress to develop energy policy

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September 10, 12:06 PM

Democrats in Congress have been put on the defensive by the electorate who collectively seem to understand that we need to develop our country’s oil and natural gas resources. The idea that not drilling off-shore will somehow solve our energy... Read More