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Electric car that charges itself

sonomotors.com

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Re: Electric car that charges itself

#121

Post by thedrbrian »

jillesvangurp wrote: post #33
dreamcompiler wrote: post #7

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.

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…

If someone is only doing 60 miles a week what’s the point of them spending 30 to 40 grand on a new car? Also how long is it going to take to save the carbon used in construction of the new car versus keeping the old one?

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#122

Post by baybal2 »

leoedin wrote: post #106

It's easy to dismiss this as green washing, but there is some value to it for city cars. The amount of electricity generated is never going to be enough to fully power the car, but that's not really the point. If having solar panels on your car roof means you can avoid charging much in summer, that will make owning an electric car for people who live in cities much simpler - and so support adoption. As a back of the…

No, even if you make the half of car surface a solar panel, you would probably not even get a net benefit because of extra weight, and drag from suboptimal hull shape needed to place cells.

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#123

Post by scbrg »

SideburnsOfDoom wrote: post #47
rini17 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That requires ownership of property. There are plenty of people that, say, rent a basement of a suburban home, park on the street and the owner is not inclined to install solar or provide convenient access to charging. Of course it won't help much but it does.

High-density living requires high-density solutions, e.g. solar on the building roofs.

And magic wireless transmission of electricity from said roofs to cars parked in the street.

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#124

Post by SideburnsOfDoom »

scbrg wrote: post #123
SideburnsOfDoom wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

High-density living requires high-density solutions, e.g. solar on the building roofs.

And magic wireless transmission of electricity from said roofs to cars parked in the street.

Why? Wires up and down building are nothing new. Your objection does not seem reasonable.

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#125

Post by legacynl »

baybal2 wrote: post #122
leoedin wrote: post #106

It's easy to dismiss this as green washing, but there is some value to it for city cars. The amount of electricity generated is never going to be enough to fully power the car, but that's not really the point. If having solar panels on your car roof means you can avoid charging much in summer, that will make owning an electric car for people who live in cities much simpler - and so support adoption. As a back of the…

No, even if you make the half of car surface a solar panel, you would probably not even get a net benefit because of extra weight, and drag from suboptimal hull shape needed to place cells.

Solar panels nowadays don't necessarily weigh that much. Also improved efficiency means that you can get away with following the exisiting body-shape, even if that means decreased power generation.

Also you might get away with having less/smaller/lighter batteries if you're able to generate more power yourself.

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#126

Post by mavhc »

rythie wrote: post #117
mavhc wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why hasn't the owner of the house put solar panels up? They own a house, by definition they're into long term investing

The owner would be the landlord, there is no benefit to them installing solar panels unless it increases the rental value to pay for them, it likely doesn't. Solar panels don't add value to a house and may decrease it. [1] Also there limits solar panel installations in conservation areas in UK and your roof can face the wrong way, so they are not efficient particularly. [1] https://www.which.co.uk/news/2017/07/do-sol…

No money for generating solar power? I get 20p/kwh

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#127

Post by legacynl »

dreamcompiler wrote: post #7

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.

This car can do both? How is that not a clear improvement?

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#128

Post by stefan_ »

zksmk wrote: post #91
Geee wrote: post #78

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.

You're forgetting many people live in apartments in dense urban areas, and basically the only place they CAN put solar panels IS on the top of their car. Of course, they could just buy/use electricity produced elsewhere in dedicated solar farms, but that doesn't make you self-reliant, and could in theory cost the end user more money, depending on maintenance and cost of the vehicle.

Thankfully we don't need many people in cities to put solar panels anywhere because everyone is much better off putting them on a field in some deserted area where they can get optimal exposure.

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#129

Post by jiofih »

baybal2 wrote: post #122
leoedin wrote: post #106

It's easy to dismiss this as green washing, but there is some value to it for city cars. The amount of electricity generated is never going to be enough to fully power the car, but that's not really the point. If having solar panels on your car roof means you can avoid charging much in summer, that will make owning an electric car for people who live in cities much simpler - and so support adoption. As a back of the…

No, even if you make the half of car surface a solar panel, you would probably not even get a net benefit because of extra weight, and drag from suboptimal hull shape needed to place cells.

Did you look at the URL posted at all? The car is in final design stages, has enough cells to deliver 250km of range per week.

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#130

Post by speedgoose »

jack_riminton wrote: post #84
Geee wrote: post #78

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.

The panels wouldn't be that much heavier than a regular steel panel. The real weight is in the batteries. It's not a fake if its still in development, which it clearly is

I agree solar panels' weight shouldn't be a big problem.

About the fake, their car has suspiciously the same proportions than the BMW i3 and they have been accused of using many parts of an i3 in the past. But I want to believe they are trying for real. The i3 has a carbon fiber roof by the way.

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