We have a 1.5kW solar option for our vans that was brought about by incessant requests from our customers. It literally packs as much modern 20% efficient PV as possible on the roof: ( http://ingineerix.com/pic/?vansolar-clean )
The best I've seen it add so far is about 15 miles a day if the sun is great, the panels are clean, and you are parked where there are no shadows. It's reasonable if you drive very little, but not worth the cost IMO. However, we also sell a Reefer (Refrigerated) version of the ePro with a well-insulated cargo area that can maintain 32F/0C temps almost all the time running off the solar. This is awesome! You can park the van with food in the back and not have to unload it every evening, etc. We have several food banks using it like this. Their old box-trucks had diesel-powered Thermo King systems that are no longer legal to idle in California. They had to pick up food, unload it all every evening into their warehouse and then re-load them the next day. Now they can just leave the van parked with the food inside. https://maxwellvehicles.com/refrigeration.html Solar also works good for airport/hotel shuttles that spend a lot of time parked waiting, but with the solar it greatly extends the daily range by covering the HVAC loads. Outside of this I agree, the best solar is on your roof where it can be more optimally placed, and generate more reliable energy. -Phil https://maxwellvehicles.com/ On Sun, Jul 17, 2022 at 4:41 PM EV List Lackey via EV <ev@lists.evdl.org> wrote: > On 17 Jul 2022 at 13:15, Mr. Sharkey via EV wrote: > > > The point being, not every idea makes sense from the standpoint of > > practicality and consumer acceptance > > As I see it, and admittedly I'm not an expert, for solar EVs with onboard > PV > to be really practical - for widespread adoption rather than as showoff > rich > boy toys - a few little tweaks need to happen. > > - PV conversion efficiency has to improve radically > - PV cost has to decline radically > - PV durability has to increase radically > > Impossible? Of course not, but when? It took about 25 years for EV > lithium > batteries to get from notion to production EVs. > > Also, don't forget the environmental changes needed to keep the sun > shining > on solar EVs. > > - Remove trees and buildings blocking sunlight from roads and parking > - Tear down garages and carports (or use them for other things) > - Disperse clouds and banish rain > - Ideally, eliminate night and winter :-\ > > No matter how good PV tech gets, it will ALWAYS make more sense to put > your > PV on your house and/or garage, save the output in a battery or the grid, > and charge your EV with that energy at night. > > But the solar-car true believers just won't wake up from the dream of a > car > that runs on pure rays, that you never have to plug in. (Where have I > heard > that before?) > > And maybe that's OK. Knowledge beats belief, but if everybody listened to > the experts who say it can't be done, nothing would ever change. If > Martin > Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning had listened to all the "experts" who said > that > road EVs weren't practical, they never would have started Tesla. We'd > probably still have EVs by now, but probably not as many, and probably not > as capable, and probably not legally recognized as future transport in the > EU. > > David Roden, EVDL moderator & general lackey > > To reach me, don't reply to this message; I won't get it. Use my > offlist address here : http://evdl.org/help/index.html#supt > > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = > Blockchain is an elaborate workaround for a very specific problem: > verifying irreversible transfers of value without a centralized > authority. In other words, it's a computationally burdensome way to > hate the government. > > -- Sarah Jeong > > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = > > _______________________________________________ > Address messages to ev@lists.evdl.org > No other addresses in TO and CC fields > HELP: http://www.evdl.org/help/ > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20220717/92c52635/attachment.html> _______________________________________________ Address messages to ev@lists.evdl.org No other addresses in TO and CC fields HELP: http://www.evdl.org/help/
