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When is it going to be cost effective to have solar panels on electric cars? That way you don't even need to plug it in, you can just let your car sit outside and it'll automatically recharge. It can recharge while you're driving too.
Even if it doesn't recharge as fast as you use the power to drive the car, it could extend the trip mileage before your battery dies.
No way to know WHEN, but the concept certainly does have merit.
I doubt that we'll ever get to the point where the solar panels are the only source of power that cars will need, especially in any climates where it's ever overcast. Current solar panels simply don't create anywhere near that much electricity.
What I can see is solar electricity extending the range of electric cars, and lower the amount of plug-in electricity needed for a recharge - hence, lower the cost of ownership a bit. THAT is something I don't think is very far off.
But how about a solar-charged battery for the starter, so you will never have a dead battery when you try to start? Dead battery when starting has been, for 75 years, the number one bane of all drivers.
So you don't think that even if the roof trunk and hood were all solar panels that technology would ever increase enough to allow it be significant? I'm not trying to be sarcastic or anything. That is an honest question.
I come from a computer background and they can increase the speeds by 2x every 18-24 months, so I just figured that some how solar would be able to do something like that especially with it being fairly new.
Last I checked, solar panel efficiencies were hovering around 20%, with the rest of the solar energy being lost as heat. So, even if we could triple efficiency levels (which is theoretically possible) that's still just the equivalent of tripling the size of a current solar panel roof, and as I've said, that isn't nearly enough to power a modern vehicle's drivetrain.
One major detriment is the type of solar panel you can use on a car. Obviously, it would have to have a tough, rigid screen, either some sort of plastic/glass/polymer coating. The most efficient solar panels currently are soft and flexible, where they can curve and bend to absorb more light, and have no such hard coating that filters out some of the energy.
Under special conditions, there are some photo cells out there that are nearing efficiencies of 50%, but none of those have been put into mainstream use.
At least for the foreseeable future, the most practical application of solar panels is to be put on buildings and houses, where they can charge large battery arrays. I figure if I could have my electricity bills paid for every month by the sun, I wouldn't mind paying for gas for the cars.
Solar panels on cars will not work at all. My wannabe SIL worked on the Winston School Solar cars. That's not Winston Cup folks, but the school for the intelligent folks among us. I witnessed their solar car going around Texas World Speedway at 40mph using only sunlight as the power. The car was capable of short bursts to 80mph. What makes the solar power not an option is the running temp of the solar panels that makes enough juice to be useful. Theirs at normal running temps was a little over 320F surface temps. You could easily fry an egg on it so touching one would be a long remembered event. I can see the lawyers lining up now for the first car to use this. Solar Car Challenge - SolarCarChallenge - High School Solar
> So you don't think that even if the roof trunk and hood were all solar panels that technology would ever increase enough to allow it be significant?
No, I don't. The web says the peak solar energy flux is around 1400 W/ square meter. A very good solar cell has 20% efficiency, exotic and very expensive ones may be around 30%. The physics of operation of a solar cell makes it hard to imagine doing much better. Factor in clouds and night...fuhgettaboudit.
The problem is not the solar panels output. The problem is that modern society needs a 3000lb car going 70mph.
I have $150 in solar panel charging my electric bicycle. Rarely need to plug into the wall. I get about 20 miles a day of sun ebiking with no pedal input (but I do pedal when I feel like it).
So I have a $1200 investment in my electric bike and solar panel and it pushes me around 100-140 miles a week on solar power.
It also doesn't get stuck in traffic. And it goes 25+mph.
No, it's going to be a while before solar panels are efficinet enough. OTOH, it woudn't take much solar panels in the US on flat roofs even now to provide all our electrical power needs:
I've looked into solar panels for my house and it would cost less to have them than my current electric bill. AND they do make more electricity than it takes to charge my Volt per day (I only use about 4-5 kWh per day in the Volt)
I looked at that image you posted depicting the amount of land area required to provide enough electricity from solar to "power" the world.
I wonder if anyone associated with creating that image ever bothered to think about the heat that would be generated from all those panels and where it would go?
On a nice bright sunny day, place your hand on a solar panel perpendicular to the sun and see how hot it gets. There are no practical ways to cool solar panels (except for the self proclaimed electrical engineers). So what happens to all the heat? We're not talking about a few panels here, we're talking about hundred and hundreds of not thousands of square miles.
You think there are global warming issues now? Visit a solar energy farm in the desert and measure the temperature of the panels vs that of the ground next to them. That heat has to be dissipated somehow. Of course, some engineers will say the heat amounts to nothing. Same engineers that usually say other issues are of no consequence.
.... did you read what I posted or did you just read the title. I gave one example of a benefit you would receive other than money. You would get a longer range out of your electric motor.
also, the Nissan Leaf's solar panel is to recharge the small accessory battery. Not the drive one.
No, I read what you posted. Did you read what I said? WHY would manufacturers shoot themselves into foot?
Thank you everyone for all the information. I didn't know that solar panels generated as much heat as they do. That's just crazy.
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