Electric car that charges itself • Hacker News Board

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#181

Post by yummypaint » Tue, Mar 16, 2021, 1:33 PM UTC

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…

I agree. I think it's better to think about solar panels on cars in terms of turning parking lots into energy producing area. We already have them and they are mostly wasted space that drive up urban temperatures. Even though the effect on the battery of a single car is small, on a bright day a mall parking lot full of cars is still a significant amount of total energy that doesn't have to come from the grid.

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#182

Post by CarVac » Tue, Mar 16, 2021, 1:34 PM UTC

Aptera has a much more viable implementation of solar charging, because the vehicle's vastly higher efficiency means each watt-hour collected goes farther.

They estimate a full day of sun can gather 40 miles, meaning even relatively darker climates might get 10 miles per day.

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#183

Post by iso1631 » Tue, Mar 16, 2021, 1:35 PM UTC

jiofih wrote: post #137

iso1631 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rent a car that's delivered to a house reliably available at 8am each morning and 3pm every afternoon, with car seats, when everyone else is after a car at at least one of those times, half a mile from the nearest neighbour, 2 miles from the village, and 7 miles from the nearest town?

Sounds like an urban planning problem. I can find half a dozen car sharing vehicles in a 400m radius from my house.

I can find half a dozen sheep within 400m radius from my house. Not everyone lives in a dense city.

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#184

Post by stetrain » Tue, Mar 16, 2021, 1:37 PM UTC

I think a lot of people here are missing one of the benefits.

When you have an EV there are two potential issues with charge. One is actually charging the car to get more miles to drive, which a solar panel (of reasonable size/weight) isn't going to contribute enough to.

The other issue is not losing charge when parked for long periods of time if not plugged in. If you don't have home or work charging then a 10 mile per day ambient battery drain is going to contribute a lot to how often you need to charge the car.

I think having at least some charging would be a nice peace of mind if you are doing something like parking the car in an airport parking lot for a couple of weeks. As a bonus you could use that energy for things like running the fan to keep the cabin from becoming melting hot in direct sun.

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#185

Post by iso1631 » Tue, Mar 16, 2021, 1:37 PM UTC

mavhc wrote: post #114

iso1631 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The village 3 miles away has a bus service 5 times a day. My sister lives in a different village. She gets a bus service on Tuesday morning.

There would be more busses if there was more demand because less people had cars

There wouldn't, when there's only demand for 15 outbound journeys a day from a given hamlet, equally spread on the 4 roads in and out, your bus isn't going to get used.

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#186

Post by bfirsh » Tue, Mar 16, 2021, 1:38 PM UTC

When I went travelling a couple of years ago I was trying to figure out if you could travel 100% solar powered.

Turns out it’s kind of possible if you cover a huge van with solar panels and have them extend out to make a larger surface area. And, are very patient. (One day of driving, two days of charging, or whatever.)

https://solarrolla.com/

https://www.routedelsol.com/solar

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#187

Post by throwaw2934238 » Tue, Mar 16, 2021, 1:38 PM UTC

SideburnsOfDoom wrote: post #37

koksik202 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For people using their cars once or twice a week to drive 10km to do groceries this will suit them and with having more housing estate with no basic amenities within walking distance this will defiantly fit families with a main car for work commute and second car for small trips like this while one parent is at work with fossil fueled car

> For people using their cars once or twice a week to drive 10km to do groceries this will suit them Wouldn't they be even better suited to a regular electric car, parked under a roof of solar panels? The simple flat solar roof will be cheaper to make, and be a larger useful surface. And easier to replace, will keep the weather off the car, reduces car weight, etc.

I want one of these cars, I live in an apartment in a city with street parking. There is no way I can install solar panels, and there is no space for it anywhere.

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#188

Post by vinay427 » Tue, Mar 16, 2021, 1:40 PM UTC

slfnflctd wrote: post #157

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

My HOA doesn't allow it or I'd have them already. And there is no way to fix this because the way the HOA is set up, it is impossible to get a quorum to change it.

Assuming you're in the US due to the relative popularity of HOAs there, this has thankfully been blocked in some (particularly sunny) states. At least California, Texas, Florida, and a few others have solar access laws that prohibit HOA restrictions on solar panel installations. It's worth making sure your state doesn't have a similar policy.

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#189

Post by throwaw2934238 » Tue, Mar 16, 2021, 1:40 PM UTC

rini17 wrote: post #41

SideburnsOfDoom wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For people using their cars once or twice a week to drive 10km to do groceries this will suit them Wouldn't they be even better suited to a regular electric car, parked under a roof of solar panels? The simple flat solar roof will be cheaper to make, and be a larger useful surface. And easier to replace, will keep the weather off the car, reduces car weight, etc.

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.

Exactly my situation, I rent an apartment in the city with street parking, for me this would be the perfect solution, why not, I don't need any more range, the flexibility is much more important.

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#190

Post by dmos62 » Tue, Mar 16, 2021, 1:45 PM UTC

samcheng wrote: post #170

gnramires wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, I were once skeptical (remembering EEVBlog's Solar Roadways series) but it really seems a good deal. Short commutes in cities can probably be covered. And a killer feature to me: if you ever get stranded somewhere without power, you at least have the option to wait a day or two to charge and get to somewhere nearby with power (around 3 miles/day for ioniq, 10 miles/day average for sion according to the articl…

I'm an electric car driver, and I'm still skeptical. It's hard to imagine a scenario where I accidentally run out of batteries and then can afford to wait for MULTIPLE DAYS before finishing my trip. Pretty sure I'd at least want to get a tow to the nearest gas station, where they would be able to plug me in if necessary. Even a plain old 120V 15A plug has much more power than solar, and works overnight...

It's not about substituting charging stations. It's about getting _part_ of your energy requirements from the panels. Check the figures in the grandfather comment: energy gains are in the ballpark of 1000 miles / year.