Claims
- 1. An electric vehicle of the type including a vehicle body carrying a motor, a battery and a main PV assembly, the main PV assembly coupled to the battery for charging the battery, the improvement comprising:
a display unit mounted to the body, the display unit electrically isolated from the battery and the main PV assembly; and a secondary PV assembly mounted to the body and electrically connected to the display unit; the display unit constructed to provide an indication proportional to the intensity of solar irradiation on the secondary PV assembly.
- 2. The electric vehicle according to claim 1 wherein the display unit comprises at least one of a light emitting diode display, a cathode ray tube, an analog meter, and a liquid crystal display.
- 3. An electric vehicle photovoltaic (PV) roof assembly comprising:
a vehicle roof comprising an upper surface having a plurality of assembly mounting element recesses; a PV assembly; PV assembly mounting elements securing the PV assembly to the upper surface of the roof at the mounting element recesses; and said mounting elements configured so that the mounting elements do not shade the PV assembly.
- 4. The assembly according to claim 3 wherein the mounting elements comprise tabs extending from the PV assembly.
- 5. The assembly according to claim 4 wherein the mounting elements comprise screws passing through the tabs.
- 6. An electric vehicle photovoltaic (PV) roof assembly comprising:
a vehicle roof comprising an upper surface having first and second surface portions; a PV assembly mounted to the first surface portion; a global positioning device mounted to the second surface portion.
- 7. The assembly according to claim 6 wherein the global positioning device comprises at least one of a ground plane of a global positioning system and a global positioning antenna.
- 8. The assembly according to claim 7 wherein the vehicle roof comprises a through hole for the passage of wires from the global positioning device.
- 9. The assembly according to claim 8 wherein the second surface portion of the upper surface comprises raised portions so to provide ventilation regions between the PV assembly and the upper surface.
- 10. The assembly according to claim 6 wherein the upper surface comprises a depression positioned to accommodate wires exiting the PV assembly.
- 11. An electric vehicle photovoltaic (PV) roof comprising:
a vehicle roof body comprising a generally flat PV assembly-supporting upper surface, a peripheral edge circumscribing the upper surface, and a peripheral gutter formed between the upper surface and the peripheral edge; the gutter having a minimum chosen depth below the upper surface.
- 12. The roof according to claim 11 wherein the chosen minimum depth is at least about 6 mm.
- 13. The roof and according to claim 11 wherein the gutter has a minimum width of about 3 mm.
- 14. An electric vehicle roof comprising:
a roof body comprising front and rear edges and lateral side edges; hand-hold recesses formed into the lateral sides at chosen position; and hand-hold elements mounted within said hand-hold recesses at positions to provide a minimum horizontal setback between the hand-hold elements and the lateral sides.
- 15. The roof according to claim 14 wherein the minimum setback is 2.5 cm.
- 16. The roof according to claim 14 wherein the roof body has an upper surface, portions of said upper surface overlying the hand-hold recesses.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This is a continuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/494,068 filed Jan. 28, 2000, which claims the benefit of Provisional Patent Application No. 60/118,943, filed Feb. 5, 1999.
Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60118943 |
Feb 1999 |
US |
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09494068 |
Jan 2000 |
US |
Child |
09785665 |
Feb 2001 |
US |