The Ohio State Highway Patrol is outfitting its fleet of Ford Crown Victorias with solar power. The $37 panels are much smaller than the rooftop array found on, say, the 2010 Toyota Prius or the forthcoming Fisker Karma. The goal is to reduce the time that cops spend idling with the engine on by powering some of their gear with energy from the sun.
The panel is wired directly to the car’s battery, which would normally power the police gadgets when the car is turned off. To extend the battery’s run time, and therefore the amount of time the engine is running, the solar panel will add clean, zero-emissions juice to the system.
The panels, according to Edmunds.com, are mounted inside the rear window (ever leave a chocolate bar back there? A proven sun-catching site). The brackets used to hold the panels are green, too: they’re recycled from misprinted license plates.
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