I have a very vague memory of watching a video where someone calculated the amount of energy produced, which was minimal. The benefit vs the cost is very poor.
this post was submitted on 09 Jun 2024
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The materials are more expensive and heavy than what car roofs are normally made of, and the charge they would generate is miniscule. It may not even offset the added energy needed to move the car because of the added weight. Particularly if you live far from the equator, or somewhere cloudy, it's probably not worth it.
When I was a kid (in the early 00's) there were solar cars on TV and they were always these absurdly shaped pancakes made of ultralight materials and couldn't even reach road speeds. I'm sure the tech has improved since then, but the real innovation that made electric cars possible was batteries. It's hard to generate enough energy on the same platform you need to move without it being too heavy.
I don't remember what car it was but an ex's car had this. It was only really used for keeping the car from getting way too hot while it was off in the summer.
If the solar panels could be efficient enough to run the air conditioning, I'm sold lol
My Prius has this. It literally just runs a small fan in the summer to keep the interior/batteries cool.
Love this feature. Wish they did this on more cars. Hot, sunny days that heat tue cabin are perfect for driving the solar-powered fan that helps cool the cabin.
on the roof doesn't make much sense. What I did see the CSIRO testing was a portable solar array that you could roll up and store in the boot. IIRC they drove a Tesla across a large swath of Australia stopping and only charing on the portable array as needed
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Also where I live, most cars spend a long time in underground (or at least covered) garages
It would increase the cost and also complicate the manufacturing process.
So, this concept is too expensive :
(...) In February 2023, the company announced it would cease developing the vehicle, citing a failure to crowdsource sufficient funds.
Solar panels on the roof and hood of a car are dubiously useful. This car has panels on the sides of the doors? Those are going to get but a fraction of the light the roof ones will. This just looks like someone tried to shove as many on as possible with zero thought into the efficacy of the idea.
Thanks for posting the question! Whole point of the community.
I think we'll see more of this in the future as they continue to make progress on inexpensive "solar paints" and the like. It's not a bad idea, it's just that the tech level doesn't show much bang for the buck...yet.
Solar cells on a car have no real use. You would have to leave the car out in the sun for weeks to months to charge it up just once.
Seems worth offering as an option. If you can get 10-20 kms out of the solar panel in decent time it might be enough of an emergency precaution to give people who live outside of cities less reason to poopoo EVs
There's two problems with this:
Panels are not free. They cost money to install, weight to move around, and prevent you from a mega-sunroof that most EVs have.
Second, if you think one inconvenient charge per month will make people outside of cities and disparage (for whom EV already offer the most advantages) change their opinion, I think you will be disappointed. Most of them formed their opinion by "but I don't wanna!", not by any logical thinking.
This is the exact type of gimmick/bullshit they can utilize to convince people to get over irrational fears. Because people are often irrational when making decisions.
But its also tied directly into the fear of running out of juice in the middle of no where. It not only offers but actually gives people comfort and security. Even its really not meant to actually be used regularily or ever really.
I know one mechanic who has both a Model S and Leaf. He HATES that his model S slowly drains the battery when not used and his leaf does not. And he can explain the difference both why and how. If a company just used that fact to sell their car over any car that also loses charge sitting unused they will absolutely have an advantage for people. Imagine parking your car for weeks and it always being as charged as you left it or more instead of sometimes having to worry if you have a dead car waiting for you because you realized after the fact that you left it with a low charge
I absolutely do think it will change enough minds. I work in the industry from the repair side. But also with people who use their vehicle to pay their wage. I know this can work towards removing that part of the equation because there is a TON of people who dont want EVs to replace ICE and they stoke every dumb fear people have. Having the option, however poorly it performs has always been a net postive as long as it does perform the way its supposed to
Good sales people try to understand what is preventing people from making good choices. Bad ones just lie to you.
Additional costs are exactly what people expect to pay extra for ask in think that's really a moot point beyond getting the amount in the right ballpark.
I appreciate the long form reasoning, but I disagree. People I've met that don't like EVs, they don't like EVs first, look for a reason later. There is of course a tiny, minuscule minority that do more than 300 miles of driving a day and cannot spare 15 minutes to charge, but that is well under 0.1% of drivers.
Never said it was people who drive high kms a day that has these concerns.
Seems to me we arent disagreeing on reasoning but about different situations. Such is the way of not speaking face to face though.
If it helps im not just making shit up, i deliver (ive moved up and am low level.operations now) autoparts to repair shops and have heard these complaints for over 10 years.
Its actually quite fascinating how often people drop the concern im trying to discuss once they start using an ev, or personally know someone who has one and they get encouraged by their persons lack of concern about losing a charge.
I think i wouldnt pay extra for the solar panel version if it was a significant extra cost but Maybr if it wasnt too much. (15k for full.self driving which doesnt even transfer to a new owner put the brakes on the failing enthudsiasm i had with tesla when model s was new)
More like 5-10km, and then only on a sunny day in the sun, which would make the car uninhabitable due to the heat.
Better put a few square meters on the roof and use those instead of the 2-3m² you can place on a car at suboptimal angles and with the requirement to park in the baking sun.
While that might not be economically feasible, I've always wondered why plug-in electrics couldn't send power back into the grid. No solar? Send energy onto the grid during the day from the car and recharge during the off-hours at night. Solar? Recharge during the day and send energy onto the grid at night. Just make sure to set a minimum charge that will get you to a charging station.
IIRC some car batteries can be used that way, but it wears out the battery.
For LFP batteries it's irrelevant. They have a 3000 cycles to 80% cap, some of the new ones have 6000. That's 10 or 20 years assuming full discharges an recharges everyday.
Or in terms of lifespan, assuming a realistic 400km range (250 miles), it's between 1.2M and 2.4M km before the range reduces to 80% (750k and 1.5M miles). The car will be completely Theseus-ed at the point.
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The same could be asked with smartphones.
Why don't smartphones include solar panels on the back side of the phone?
Do you usually use your phone in the sun or leave it exposed to direct sunlight?
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We buy solar phone chargers for use in the backyard. They work ok. It would take a long time to fully charge, but it will keep you from going empty.