RVs also use solar panels as one of the main sources of energy. But I have learned to avoid those flexible solar panels (that Sonos is seemingly using as well) because they do not last a long time. They break usually long before 10 years are over. Also it should be noted that solar panels lose efficiency the hotter they get. Solar panels that are directly glued on the surface have no ventilation and thus get hot, lose efficiency and the heat also does not help to make them last longer. Of course, properly mounted panels you find on most RVs cause a bit more drag. There are military grade flexible solar panels available that don’t have most of the mentioned side effects but they are like 5x more expensive.
Electric car that charges itself
351–360 of 418 posts
Re: Electric car that charges itself
#352Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Running out over the pavement to the cars in the street? You seem sceptical? I've seen exactly that in a street near me, to a motor vehicle being charged up. They used a cable protector, this kind of device: https://www.kingfisherdirect.co.uk/traffic-line-hose-and-cab... However, more permanent infrastructure would be buried below the paving. This already happens, BTW. Cities need infrastructure, that's just the fa…
I am sceptical. At least around here I strongly doubt that it'd even be legal to run that thing (or several of those things) across the pavement. Pavements are for walking, prams, wheelchairs and whatnot that would be obstructed. I might be wrong there though. I'm not arguing against the idea that such infrastructure would be good. I'm just saying that a private person renting an apartment in a city can not reasonabl…
I can't answer to the cable's legality, and I too was surprised the first time that I saw it. But, not the second.
The cable guide there is there so that prams etc can get over it without much trouble, and so that pedestrians don't trip.
Re: Electric car that charges itself
#353Earlier quoted context omitted.
True. Much better to just not generate any power so that they don’t charge themselves at all and don’t feed anything to the grid.
It'd be a more efficient use of money and resources to put the solar panels on a roof to generate more electricity than they'd generate on a car, and make a car with a bigger battery rather than solar panels. So yes, your sarcastic remark is actually 100% correct.
Right because we don’t have enough panels for cars and roofs, and must choose one.
Re: Electric car that charges itself
#354Earlier quoted context omitted.
Musk is building cars for a mainly american style market - long drives and private parking. topping up 5 miles a day means that a full battery will last me and the 1.8 million UK cars that do under 2000 miles a year, months between having to plug in and recharge.
The catch-22 of solar roofed cars is the time of year when they are likely to be most useful—during the summer—the last thing you want to do is park your car in the sun to charge. Whatever benefit you gain from solar charging, you lose as soon as you have to fire up the AC for 10 minutes to make it livable. In general, it’s a good idea to park your car under cover for a lot of reasons. Fabrics don’t do well when expo…
I would actually like a solar roof for just this reason: when I have no choice but to park in the sun, it would be convenient if it could produce enough energy to maintain a reasonable temperature without impacting the remaining range.
Re: Electric car that charges itself
#355Earlier quoted context omitted.
It'd be a more efficient use of money and resources to put the solar panels on a roof to generate more electricity than they'd generate on a car, and make a car with a bigger battery rather than solar panels. So yes, your sarcastic remark is actually 100% correct.
Right because we don’t have enough panels for cars and roofs, and must choose one.
Presumably the car's solar panels are not getting any sun under a roof.
A car having anything remotely close to useful solar charging requires so many goldilocks conditions to be just right that it's not worth the complexity, and it's better to invest equivalent resources into more practical solutions.
Re: Electric car that charges itself
#356Earlier quoted context omitted.
The catch-22 of solar roofed cars is the time of year when they are likely to be most useful—during the summer—the last thing you want to do is park your car in the sun to charge. Whatever benefit you gain from solar charging, you lose as soon as you have to fire up the AC for 10 minutes to make it livable. In general, it’s a good idea to park your car under cover for a lot of reasons. Fabrics don’t do well when expo…
I would actually like a solar roof for just this reason: when I have no choice but to park in the sun, it would be convenient if it could produce enough energy to maintain a reasonable temperature without impacting the remaining range.
Can already do this on the Tesla. It’s not solar, but cracking the windows and running the fans to keep it vented isn’t going to burn more than a mile or two of range.
The best way to spend money improving an EV is almost always going to be on batteries or weight reduction. Self charging is neat, but unless you get much more efficient solar arrays, it’s always going to be limited to niche applications. Five miles more range is always going to be useful, solar arrays which add a mile or two of range under specific conditions are far less interesting.
Re: Electric car that charges itself
#357Earlier quoted context omitted.
On their Twitter there’s video showing it getting 100W in full sunlight. That’s the equivalent to 0.5m^2 of rooftop solar. It’s just not worth the effort of putting the cells on the car.
So a car park of them would generate many kWs. Why isn’t it “worth” it... turning car parks into solar farms sounds pretty cool to me.
Naïvely, "more panels == more electricity". But since we haven't run out of efficient places to put panels, that means any put in ridiculous places (on top of cars; under sidewalks etc) are not a good use of panels.
Panels must be positioned to face the sun, must be unobscured, must be in daylight during prime hours to make it worthwhile. Car roofs are often none of those things.
You want car parks turned into solar stations? Then mount them in the car park over the cars, angled at the sun permanently. Its a simple change, cheaper, and works many many times better. And gets crap off your car making it lighter and reducing drag.
Re: Electric car that charges itself
#358Re: Electric car that charges itself
#359Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Well, I can also find a dozen sheep within that radius, just the other way around! Dense country for sure, but I’m not living near the city center.
Urban planning does not equal trying to get everyone to live in packed apartments.