Solar Panel Roof

[InnerMogul]

A full glass window is great, but when the sun is over head, you will want a different option to close/tint the glass quickly (Lexus GX 550 "Dynamic Sky"). If a sliding shade or electronic tint feature is not an option, perhaps sealing the roof completely can be an option and offering an active solar panel for the exterior roof top to add charging capabilities.

 

[pwrofgrayskull]

Wasn’t clarified. Assuming typical structure-solid roof base with other two as upgrades

It would be nice if you could choose your roof option independently. Meaning I hope things don’t get bundled in a bunch of packages or that certain roofs are only available on some trims. Packages can be one of the most annoying things in the automotive industry from the customer/user standpoint. In general, a customer typically ends up spending extra money on options they don’t want and/or will never use…OR they simply get priced out of the vehicle and have to find a different vehicle because they can’t afford the trim or package combination that gives them the features they want or need.

I know this has been mentioned before, but I just wanted to reiterate. It might be tough to make it happen on the assembly line depending how they set things up, but I cannot imagine how much happier everyone would be if you could order the exact combination of options to build your personal ultimate Scout. Within reason of course, there would likely be a line drawn somewhere for various business reasons or otherwise.

It seems possible in theory with Scout Motors’ clean sheet and no dealership model, so I thought I’d throw it out there.

 

[Scoutsie]

A full glass window is great, but when the sun is over head, you will want a different option to close/tint the glass quickly (Lexus GX 550 "Dynamic Sky"). If a sliding shade or electronic tint feature is not an option, perhaps sealing the roof completely can be an option and offering an active solar panel for the exterior roof top to add charging capabilities.

Car rooftop solar panels don’t collect a ton of energy the way that a home’s rooftop solar array does. My Prius has a rooftop solar panel and it does one thing: powers a fan in the summer that prevents the car from getting stifling hot. That sort of device doesn’t need much electricity. It’s a neat feature, but most of the time it’s unhelpful. To get the energy needed to charge the car battery, you’d need to always be getting unobstructed sunlight and definitely need more than 1 array on the car.

FWIW, you could totally pull this off at home w/a solar array on your home’s roof, provided it’s hit with direct sunlight and no trees in the way.

 

[lansdowner]

Having full glass can be awesome for the view, but I totally get the need for a quick way to block out the sun. I had a similar issue with my car when I was considering adding a solar panel to the roof for charging. I ended up reaching out to https://solarsmart.ie/solar-panels-dublin/ for advice on solar panels for vehicles, and they suggested a thin, flexible solar panel for the roof, which would help with charging while also providing some shade. They helped me figure out a setup that wouldn’t block too much light but would still offer enough power for small electronics.

 

[MountainDad]

Having full glass can be awesome for the view, but I totally get the need for a quick way to block out the sun. I had a similar issue with my car when I was considering adding a solar panel to the roof for charging.

A full glass roof absolutely needs a sunshade. My Polestar has a full glass roof, but the glass is treated to reject IR and all spectra of UV. It still gets hot inside, but no hotter than a regular car with a regular roof. Still, I would prefer a fully retractable sunshade. My wife's Volvo XC60 has one for its full glass roof, and there's a setting to automatically close it if the car heats up too much inside.

My Land Rover has IR rejecting windshield glass. With a sunshade, and the two roof panel sunshades closed, it stays quite cool even with a black on black interior.