PV for battery maintenance.

[cadethoerk]

How about including some PV cells in the pano roof to cover the battery maintenance electrical draw? That would keep the pack from ever reaching low volt damage. It would also look cool to see the PV cells through the sun roof. PV cells are getting so cheap and their efficency climbing every year. You could leave your car in long term parking for ever and that battery level would never drop. I don't know what the battery climate control draw is, but you might even have a little left over to charge the pack.
What do you think?

[ElSupreme]

Unless you park in a garage.

[doug]

And if you're parked long enough that you're worried about loss of battery capacity, you probably should be plugged in.

[vfx]

How about including some PV cells in the pano roof to cover the battery maintenance electrical draw?...

See Nissan Leaf, Fisker Karma

[brianman]

See Nissan Leaf, Fisker Karma

Specifically, see the owner review video where he does the math. It was something absurd like 500 years of leaving the car parked in 100% sunshine (read: not Earth) to recoup the cost of the solar cells.

[Doug_G]

Solar cells on the roof of a car simply cannot produce a useful amount of electricity. It's too small an area.

Anyone who puts solar cells on the roof is just doing "faux green" (looking at you Henrik).

[MikeK]

I figure they can probably produce enough to ventilate the cabin, and that's about it.

[Citizen-T]

Someday they will probably get cheap enough to make sense, but not this day.

[Doug_G]

Someday they will probably get cheap enough to make sense, but not this day.

That's not really the issue. There's not enough energy received from the sun on an area that small.

[doug]

There's enough power to run a fan to circulate some fresh air in the cabin, but that's about it the only useful function, and you only need a relatively small panel for that.