Lawrence Rhodes via EV wrote:
To make solar panels work on an EV they must be specially encapsulated Sunpower
cells. No panels.
It depends on your goals. Sunpower cells can produce the most power per
sq.meter under ideal conditions. That's great if you're building a solar
raycer. But they also cost a lot! For many people, a lower $/watt is
preferable.
Also, other types of cells generate more power under less-than-idea
conditions. As an extreme example, the tiny PV panel in a solar
calculator generates more power in room light than a big Sunpower panel.
The PV panel in my Prius is amorphous, and about 1 sq.ft. It's
efficiency is poor in full sun; but it's sitting on the rear shelf under
the back window. It generates about 50mA on a sunny day; and that's
enough to keep the Prius 12v battery charged.
A custom vehicle like the Stella solar cars built by the engineering students
of Eindhoven you could have a 1,200 mile range car... for 330,000 euros.
if you build a tube frame and scrimp on parts you could probably get a couple
of hundred miles range and charge in 10 hours of sunlight (15kwh battery pack).
That's pretty much what James Worden of Solectria did with the Sunrise,
and Alex Krause did with the Evergreen. Build a (relatively) normal car,
but with the emphasis on streamlining and light weight. It needs half
the energy, so you need half the battery, and PV panels can provide a
significant fraction of the power.
But the automaker EV strategy so far is to build massively heavy cars,
which needs massively big batteries. They're too heavy and power-hungry
to power with PV panels.
Lee
--
A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is
nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
-- Antoine de Saint Exupery
--
Lee Hart, 814 8th Ave N, Sartell MN 56377, www.sunrise-ev.com
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