Comment by Panino
8 hours ago
> I'd love if the roof and the hood of my plugin hybrid could have solar panels built in. I drive it very rarely and short distance.
An old neighbor of mine had a Prius with a factory-installed small solar panel, definitely 50W or less, that IIRC was connected to the 12V battery. So one of the benefits would be in counteracting draw from various always-on computers in modern vehicles.
I love it. Toyota hybrids have famously terrible 12V battery. On my recent one, it started reporting low voltage only after few months of light use.