Cop Cars Get Solar Panels
Ohio state trooper cruisers are getting small solar panels to assist in the powering of their onboard equipment. 1,150 Ford Crown Victoria cruisers will get 5 watt solar panels to improve battery peformance and reduce fuel consumption.
The solar panels will help power the radio and other electronics when the cars’ engines are turned off. Currently electronics drain batteries when the cars are not running. The official press release states the solar panels will decrease the chance of an officer being unable to respond to an incident due to her or his car having a dead battery. The panels will be installed in the rear deck area, and their brackets have been made from recycled license plates. Each panel costs $37 and could last five years.
Image Credit: Ohio State Patrol
It sounds a bit like the new Prius that has the solar moonroof (option) to help power the equipment inside. I’ve always been in favor of government going green to save taxpayer money!
5 watt??? Power the cigarette lighter I guess.
5 watt? Just enough for the laptop fan… this is a joke or what?
Thanks for the news but I just dont think that a 5 watt solar panel will do any good… Am I wrong here?
I think the point of the 5 watt solar panels is to power the radio when the car engine is turned off so the battery does not get low, or become dead. If a patrol officer sits all day with the radio on, the battery can become drained.
well i have one of these panels< and it is also mounted on my truck…. also I have seen these panels in cruisers…. they cant turn on ore than 1 marker light really brightly, now on the other hand I use my panel to charge battery I have hooked to power inverter its a 600 cranking amp battery, allthough its kinda junk it still takes 4 or 5 full days for it to charge and run a 1000 watt inverter for about 5 hours…. trust me it aint gonna do much for these cruisers if it almost can light up a marker light to full potential in the best sunlight conditions.