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Electric car that charges itself

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Re: Electric car that charges itself

#201

Post by deftnerd »

rcxdude wrote: post #96

Having worked on a solar car as a student project, solar panels on a car are at best a marketing gimmick. There's definitely not enough area on a car to power a car anyone wants to drive, even under ideal conditions at a reasonable duty cycle, and issues of shading are even worse for a car than a stationary panel. Also solar panels are fragile and encapsulating them so that they are robust enough to be on the exterio…

One possible use case of solar panels on a car in bright and hot environments would be running the air blower to continually replace the interior air with the exterior air in order to maintain a reasonable temperature. It's not uncommon in the south for temperatures to exceed 140f inside of the car.

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#202

Post by gandalfian »

bfirsh wrote: post #186

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

I enjoyed the solar bicycle.https://www.thesuntrip.com/en/the-most-incredible-solar-bike... Around the world here I come (in my dreams).

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#203

Post by stonemetal12 »

GrinningFool wrote: post #147
baybal2 wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many kilometres per week they take? 0.05 increase in drag coefficient can alone eat the energy equivalent of 50km in a week.

Why would you by-default assume that the people who design and implement this are unaware of such considerations?

Cars come with all sorts of stupid stuff because people think it looks cool. Fake hood scoops, spoilers that aren't going to have any real effect at legal speeds. So why not a "green spoiler" that gives the owner something to crow about but not actually do anything good for them?

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#204

Post by bin_bash »

gt565k wrote: post #149
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…

Or you could cover every residential building and parking lot's rooftop with solar panels and have charging stations for cars, and low cost electricity for the entire block, neighborhood, and city. This problem of "energy" in particular electricity, can be solved, but requires buy in from millions of different parties (HOAs, building owners, real estate developers). Unless the law changes where you can compel / force…

At least where I lived in cities it seems like I wouldn't have had much opportunity for direct sunlight parking on the street. Rooftops make a lot more sense.

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#205

Post by bin_bash »

stonemetal12 wrote: post #194
samcheng wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

The only plus I can see is that if you leave your car at the airport for a week or some other long term parking situation, you don't come back to a dead battery.

You'd have to remember to park on the roof!

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#206

Post by Kirby64 »

stonemetal12 wrote: post #194
samcheng wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

The only plus I can see is that if you leave your car at the airport for a week or some other long term parking situation, you don't come back to a dead battery.

Assuming you aren't parked underground. Many airport parking lots are multi-tiered parking garages for density. Sure, you can park on the roof, but maybe rooftop becomes the more 'coveted' spot if this did take off.

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#207

Post by arghwhat »

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 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.

In a lot of places, it's either keep moving or hope someone finds you fast enough. Not all roads are within throwing distance of a town or city.

In more common cases, it might be enough to cover limited driving (I think it might be able to cover my current car utilization in full), or at least offload the grid a bit. And in remote locations with limited or no power, it'll give occasional driving capabilities.

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#208

Post by gandalfian »

saagarjha wrote: post #88

Amusingly, the 2011 Nissan Leaf actually had a solar panel on its roof. It would help charge its internal battery–not the main one, but the 12V auxiliary battery. Trying to actually power the car itself is generally infeasible with solar panels attached to the car.

Wasn't the joke that the only purpose of the solar panel was to stop customers asking for one.

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#209

Post by eldaisfish »

stonemetal12 wrote: post #194
samcheng wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

The only plus I can see is that if you leave your car at the airport for a week or some other long term parking situation, you don't come back to a dead battery.

Many large airports and certainly the majority of airports in large metropolitan areas have underground or covered parking.

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#210

Post by bin_bash »

mavhc wrote: post #126
rythie wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Does the owner pay electricity in the UK? In the US the tenant pays it directly.
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