Ohio Highway Patrol Cars Are Going Solar
By Scott Doggett June 8, 2009
Alright, not full
solar, as you probably guessed.
But the Ohio State Highway Patrol is fitting its entire fleet of Ford Crown Victoria patrol cars - more than 1,100 units statewide - with a small solar panel the OHP says will help conserve fuel and limit the potential for vehicle downtime.
The $37 panel will generate a max of about five watts. Crucially, that's enough to power the patrol-car radios, enabling the troopers to sometimes engage in stationary traffic monitoring without the car's engine idling. Police cruisers spend a lot of time with the engine running, even when stationary, because of the potential for electrical-equipment drain to discharge the battery.
The OHP said it increased its stationary patrol time in fiscal-year 2007-08, saving some 16.4 percent on fuel costs - or about $1 million. The new solar panels will increase the fuel-consumption savings because the cruisers now will be able to spend a portion of their stationary time with the engine off.
The solar panel is wired directly to the patrol-car's battery, also helping to extend the life of the battery and further cutting costs, the OHP said.
The panels are expected to last about five years. Brackets to mount the panel on the cruisers' rear deck were fashioned from misprinted license plates.
Bill Visnic, senior editor, Edmunds AutoObserver
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If the car radios only use 5 watts (which I very much doubt), you could run them off the car batteries for a week or more with the engine off without a problem.
I can't see a 5 watt solar panel having any significant effect on keeping the battery charged.
Firstwagon, if that 5 W solar panel avoid the engine running for long amounts of time, it will result in significant fuel savings.
But, yeah, 5 W sounds too little!!
And, or course, the more the cars can sit without idling -- while the officers are doing their jobs -- the fewer pollutants from the tailpipe. That might be just as valuable to the community as the bucks that are saved.
I agree that reduced idleing will have lots of benefits.
My point is the 5 watts is so little that you could just shut off the engine and skip the panel altogether and have the same effect.
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