increasing Prius performance
Created September 12, 2006, at 12:37 pm by Anonymous
Has anyone boosted the performance of a Prius by changing body panels to aftermarket Graphite Composition or lighter wheels or lower friction tires?
It also seems improvements in automotive glass to hold down heat build up in the passenger area are in order. My house has low e glass so effective that one can place a black camera on a window sill in the summer and not worry about the film being ruined.
This might also keep children and pets in parked cars safer.
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5 years ago
A recent Scientific American stated that someone added solar panels to the body of his Prius and recharged the battery while the car was sitting in the parking lot. With city driving he claims to get about 80-100 mpg.
5 years ago
I find it hard to believe that a single solar panel would make much of a difference since most solar panels that are about the size of the Prius roof produce only about 80-120 Watts. Nevertheless, I would pay extra money for Toyota to mold a solar panel into the roof just to help get the volume of solar panels up......
The stock tires of the Prius have a max pressure rating of 44 psi. The owner's manual recommends 35 psi I believe, but I put in 40 psi front and rear. I've been averaging 49 mpg at between 70-75 mph highway driving. Since my wife discovered that on a round trip between Springfield, OH and Cleveland, OH at 62 mph she got 60 mpgs(!) I have now opted to set my cruise at 62-63 mph on my daily work commute and I've been getting 55-57 mpg. There must be something about her north-south route that is better for mileage than my east-west commute.......
A word of caution about tire pressure: I have noticed that the tires seem to slide a little on the highway off/on ramps at the higher pressure, but seem to get better traction on dry pavement. Go figure.
I have 40K miles on my 2005 model now, and will probably need tires some time next summer. I will look into the low rolling resistance (LRR) tires then. I hear Michelin has some.....
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