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Electric car that charges itself

sonomotors.com

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Re: Electric car that charges itself

#361

Post by jiofih »

Rule35 wrote: post #166
GrinningFool wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Most likely they assume that the builders know how worthless it is but they think the customers will not, thus being tricked into buying this car to only save $50 a year. A solar golf cart would be great for people in Arizona, but a car with a solar roof is meaningless almost anywhere and actually wasteful everywhere that doesn't have great sun.

Did you just make the exact same kind of daft observation in response to that? Impressive lack of awareness.

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#362

Post by jiofih »

natch wrote: post #172
GrinningFool wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Vaporware is a thing. As is clickbait. Also false marketing. The engineers don’t always control the marketing. Maybe the commenter you replied to is simply not gullible.

Or maybe not everything is marketing and a cursory search shows you the project is an engineering project backed by multiple universities?

No, it must be fake, because it doesn’t fit my own agenda, and I don’t have the time to actually read any of the engineering info. I’ll just use my well-honed common sense to dismiss this totally impractical and stupid idea by physics and engineering grads. Do they think I’m dumb? I’ll show them by shouting even louder, and don’t you dare disagree or censor me!

(this is sadly the state of rational thinking today)

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#363

Post by jjav »

crooked-v wrote: post #280
dheera wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly I don't see why we can't just outlaw HOAs. If you own something you should be able to do whatever you want with it. It seems like a simple constitutional right to me.

Eliminate HOAs and you've destroyed the basic mechanism that makes common maintenance practical for high-density non-rental housing.

You absolutely do not need a controlling HOA just to maintain common areas. My neighborhood considered a HOA for the common park areas but in the end the land was transferred to the city and maintenance is paid via property taxes. No HOA to tell us what flowers we can plant.

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#364

Post by jjav »

dheera wrote: post #289
recursive wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As the vice president of my HOA (for a few more months) I'm happy to report that I've never heard of a request for solar installation that wasn't approved on the first request.

This is the kind of thing that makes my blood boil. Why is this even an approval? Why do you think you have ANY say over their solar installation? Why does it even have to go through an approval process for anything other than fire/electrical/building safety? It's not your property. Stay out.

Agreed. It should be illegal for a HOA to have any involvement in such decisions within personal property.

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#365

Post by jjav »

vermontdevil wrote: post #338
stonemetal12 wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Airports have 24/7 service to jump start your car etc.

You can't exactly jump start an electric car.

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#366

Post by dreamcompiler »

recursive wrote: post #282
JKCalhoun wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A cheap, easy to set up solar car port in the driveway would make more sense for suburban dwellers. Guessing HOA's would lose their shit though.

As the vice president of my HOA (for a few more months) I'm happy to report that I've never heard of a request for solar installation that wasn't approved on the first request.

We had a few many years ago that were denied on aesthetic grounds and then approved after redesign (I was president of my HOA then). But then my state passed a Solar Access law that makes HOA covenants against solar panels unenforcible, so the problem solved itself.

To my neighbors who don't like solar panels because they "decrease property values" (the favorite bugaboo of HOAs), I reply that in 10 years any house that does not have solar panels will be perceived as deficient, especially in the southwestern US.

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#367

Post by onethought »

bobthepanda wrote: post #355
onethought wrote: post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Combustion Engines require so many goldilocks conditions that it is not worth the complexity. Better to invest in more practical solutions: one big engine dragging carriages is vastly more efficient.

Just to make my point really clear, This whole thread is generally arguing: Don't do innovative things, because there are other known (non-innovative) things you could do.

Cars that charge themselves in the sun is a no brainer, is it going to replace needing to ever charge them, not yet... But if we don't try we won't improve that technology.

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#368

Post by onethought »

unionpivo wrote: post #52
onethought wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

because neither solar panels, cables or charging network (to connect the cars) is free (money and emissions).

But the alternative (a normal EV) still requires all the same cables and charging network.

Or the other alternative, the shipping of petroleum on huge trucks to millions of locations.

But yeah, I'd draw the line at solar panels on car roof tops too... the excess is too much.

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#369

Post by onethought »

labcomputer wrote: post #311
onion2k wrote: post #31

Earlier 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.

> 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 This is an under-appreciated point by the solar car advocates. In order to get anywhere close to a practical self-charging car, you have to put panels on an area equivalent to covering the entire surface of the car (including the windows!). For a conventionally-shaped car,…

But doing it is what drives innovation... Battery tech is improving at crazy pace because everyone is using batteries for everything now.

You don't think the same would happen if wide spread adoption of solar started happening?

Arguing: "Technology isn't good enough yet, so we shouldn't try"... how do you expect to make it good enough?

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#370

Post by onethought »

Robotbeat wrote: post #32
onethought wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Because bidirectional car chargers cost thousands more than regular L2 chargers.

I'm confused by this... they are built into the car already. You just plug one car into another the cost of the charger is already realised.
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