81–90 of 418 posts
It makes very little sense to be lugging solar panels around. It's just not worth it. Install them at home and charge. It might make sense if your vehicle is large and mostly stationary in remote locations where electricity is not available. Anyway, I think this product is fake and scam.
I think you are too cynical
It makes very little sense to be lugging solar panels around. It's just not worth it. Install them at home and charge. It might make sense if your vehicle is large and mostly stationary in remote locations where electricity is not available. Anyway, I think this product is fake and scam.
Obvious downsides include significant increases in repair costs in the event of an accident etc. But, panels have gotten cheap enough that this is at least worth considering.
PS: I agree it’s unlikely to turn into an actual product, but it’s at least theoretically possible.
It makes very little sense to be lugging solar panels around. It's just not worth it. Install them at home and charge. It might make sense if your vehicle is large and mostly stationary in remote locations where electricity is not available. Anyway, I think this product is fake and scam.
It's not a fake if its still in development, which it clearly is
Lightyear One is developing a solar car. https://lightyear.one
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Lots of cars don't drive much more than this per week and just sit outside on the drive way or parking lot. They are only used for short trips to work or shops. Solar charging ensures you only rarely have to plug it in to top it up, which is convenient. It also means that if you leave it sitting outside for long periods of time, it will be topped up rather than slightly drained when you get back to it. That convenien…
I also think these cars would be great, and have a lot of peoples needs covered, me for example. I don't understand this sentiment in the debate of electric cars, how all of them need to cover the most extreme edge case of long mileage users, and if they don't, the whole idea should be scrapped. Why? Let's build a few different cars with different ranges to suit peoples different needs, what's the problem with that,…
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Instead, cities should have much better and practical public transport, so I wouldn't need my car in the first place, but it's not possible to plan your day around with flexibility in my city, unless I have my car with me. Otherwise, 15 min trips become 60+ ones which makes everything impossible.
Public transport still doesn't cover all the use cases of a car, such as hauling things and going out into nature. Which is something everyone needs to do.
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... and if I'm going to rent it for 24 hours, why not buy it in the first place?
The environmental cost of making the car takes a reasonable amount of the resources used in is lifecycle. So in the case you only need the car for a few miles a week you should consider alternatives. Maybe village councils should have a car to be shared by all.
This idea will never be practical but it also seems it won't die. 69 miles per week of charging. Assuming the car is sitting outdoors all week and the weather is not cloudy. A Tesla can charge more than this in an hour.