Patent ID: 8452642

Claim:
A navigation device for a vehicle, the vehicle including a driving motor, a battery used as a power source for the driving motor, a solar cell, and a charge control device for controlling charge of the battery using the solar cell and an external charge facility, the navigation device comprising: a position detector configured to detect a present position of the vehicle; a route guide unit configured to guide a recommended path to a set destination; a parking area search unit configured to search a parking area near the present position or the destination; an information acquisition unit configured to acquire charge-related information related to each parking area being searched, the charge-related information including a capability of an external charge facility of each parking area, data of a usage fee of each parking area, and sunshine condition data of each parking area during a scheduled parking; a calculation unit configured to calculate, according to the charge-related information, a solar energy generation quantity, by which the solar cell can charge the battery, on an assumption that the vehicle is parked at each parking area for a time period of scheduled parking, an insufficiency caused by the solar energy generation quantity to charge a remaining quantity of the battery, and a charge cost caused by complementing the insufficiency to charge with an external charge facility; and a display unit configured to indicate the charge cost of each parking area calculated by the calculation unit.