How much do solar pannels imcrease milleage on prius?
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This is a smart idea. Electric motors are far more reliable than gas motors - in fact, electric motors have only one moving part!
Well, the first thing to do is to upgrade your Prius to work as a 'plug-in' car. Information is on this page:
http://www.calcars.org/priusplus.html...
Now, you can plug in your car, and store up some extra electricity for short trips. With a LI-ION battery upgrade, you can drive around town without the gas engine kicking on at all. This upgrade is expensive, but gas is expensive too - and getting more so - therefore, the upgrade could very well pay for itself in a short time.
Next, a solar panel upgrade will make you independant from both gas and the electric utilities. But be warned, panels are expensive. Unless you drive a lot, or electricity gets very expensive, it will be years to recoup this investment.
But you can always start small. One or two panels won't be enough to completely charge your batteries, but it will make a difference.
Rather than internal combustion engine wear, I'd be more concerned about electric system longevity. Combustion engines fail, it's inevitable, however, with the number of years we've used them, parts and overhauling them are cheap and quickly done.
Hybrid vehicles concern me for a number of reasons: System voltage operates so intensely, it's possible that if your body shorts with the system while you stand on cement, your feel will actually weld you to the ground(death).
Another concern is any concern with electric motor systems: motor longevity and battery longevity. To put it shortly, look up the price tag for a new battery(not 12V) and new electric motor from the Toyota dealership to see how much a repair would cost, rather than rebuilding a conventional piston engine for $2000 and having it last another 100-200k miles.
Let's put it this way, a car's a car, what propels it is different. You can get 500k miles out of a Prius' engine, true? It's possible. You can get 700k miles out of a conventional piston engine, true? I've seen several. All cars life expectancies are determined by the build quality, and the owner's will to maintain the vehicle.
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