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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.
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.
Even if solar panels get MUCH cheaper, they will have little influence on charging batteries for electric cars. The produce a tiny amount of electricity, all things considered. A panel 2 x 5 (feet) produces just 127 watts. Such a panel can almost charge one 12V battery in one day. Such a panel would take about a month of all day sunlight to charge a Tesla battery.
Doesn't Leaf have some like this?
Also, what good does it do? Saves YOU money? Like you supposed to save them. You have to SPEND money.
.... 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.
Even if solar panels get MUCH cheaper, they will have little influence on charging batteries for electric cars. The produce a tiny amount of electricity, all things considered. A panel 2 x 5 (feet) produces just 127 watts. Such a panel can almost charge one 12V battery in one day. Such a panel would take about a month of all day sunlight to charge a Tesla battery.
I'm sure though that as the costs decrease that the energy produced will also increase as well wouldn't they? I haven't researched solar power in a while so I don't know if they're at their peak or not. Just like computers, the processors are getting more powerful and cheaper all the while still taking up the same amount of space. Is this possible in solar?
Solar panels that can fit on a roof of a car obviously have a size limitation. Even if solar panels were able to dramatically boost their efficiency, it still just isn't enough to power much on a car, as far as the drivetrain goes. I was a member of a team in high school building a solar powered car... The entire car was covered with solar panels, and the whole car weighed about 800 lbs, about 950 with a single driver. We had probably at least 5-6 times the surface area for solar panels as you would get with a roof top solar panel, and about 1/4 of the weight of the average car, and we only had enough juice to be able to go for a couple hours at speeds averaging about 40mph with a fully charged battery, and no stop and go traffic. Things have come a long way since then, but a single roof panel isn't going to be able to ever do much more than charge your phone and accessories. There's just not enough surface area to be able to generate a significant amount of electricity.
I think Tesla has a solar panel that runs some accessories like the radio. To have any impact on the drive batteries, you would need a panel 13 times the size of the car. However the panel woudl then have to be bigger, because you would need larger motors and batteries to drive all that weight.
They do make solar powered cars. Many universities have competitions where students from different schools make solar, wind, pedal and similar powered vehicles and then they compete to see who can make theirs move and who can go furthest, fastest etc. Frequently, just making it move is an accomplishment.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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That would never work here, with only about 2-3 months of sun. I have a solar powered fan in my greenhouse and even in summer it only comes on a few hours of the day due to the shade from all of the big trees.
Solar panels that can fit on a roof of a car obviously have a size limitation. Even if solar panels were able to dramatically boost their efficiency, it still just isn't enough to power much on a car, as far as the drivetrain goes. I was a member of a team in high school building a solar powered car... The entire car was covered with solar panels, and the whole car weighed about 800 lbs, about 950 with a single driver. We had probably at least 5-6 times the surface area for solar panels as you would get with a roof top solar panel, and about 1/4 of the weight of the average car, and we only had enough juice to be able to go for a couple hours at speeds averaging about 40mph with a fully charged battery, and no stop and go traffic. Things have come a long way since then, but a single roof panel isn't going to be able to ever do much more than charge your phone and accessories. There's just not enough surface area to be able to generate a significant amount of electricity.
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.
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.
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)
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