Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Lightyear One

lightyear.one

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 55 posts

Re: Lightyear One

#41

Post by Ken_At_EM »

Ken_At_EM wrote: post #40
AdamH12113 wrote: post #30

Another high-tech car company that thinks replacing all the dashboard controls with a big touchscreen is a good idea. How is having to stare at a screen while using fine motor control in the middle of driving a good idea? Rear-view cameras are neat, but the one time I tried one I found rapidly switching focus between a car 50 feet ahead and a screen 1 foot away to be rather tiring for my eyes. Maybe I'm just not the…

Model 3 owner. It really doesn't present a safety situation for me. I glance at the screen for speed and maps as you would a dashboard. I use the click wheels on the steering wheel to adjust music, volume and autopilot speed. It's super fun when parked to have the big screen and play games with the kids, it adds a ton of bonding time that would otherwise be not quite as fun. I wouldn't mind a physical wheel similar t…

Also, the far more dangerous thing in a vehicle is someone's personal phone, which I admittedly use far too often when driving.

Re: Lightyear One

#42

Post by Ken_At_EM »

rufius wrote: post #18

Lol - get real. $255k? It's not particularly "cool" looking so unless they fix the styling, I can't see people dropping $255k for a solar car.

Wow....I was expecting $50k-$60k. I have no idea how they expect this car to sell unless they're taking the boutique "roadster" approach that Tesla did to get a foot in the market.

The difference between this and the Roadster is that, the Roadster was cool, this is...goofy looking and practical.

I can see this appealing to the "hyper-miler" crowd, but that's not the crowd that would want to or could drop six figures on a car.

Re: Lightyear One

#43

Post by pussycat »

AdamH12113 wrote: post #30

Another high-tech car company that thinks replacing all the dashboard controls with a big touchscreen is a good idea. How is having to stare at a screen while using fine motor control in the middle of driving a good idea? Rear-view cameras are neat, but the one time I tried one I found rapidly switching focus between a car 50 feet ahead and a screen 1 foot away to be rather tiring for my eyes. Maybe I'm just not the…

I have a new mercedez with a fully digital dash, 360 degree cameras, etc.

I find it incredibly helpful and not distracting at all.

Re: Lightyear One

#44

Post by drewg123 »

ender341341 wrote: post #27
keepquestioning wrote: post #15

Why all the hate to solar panels here?

It's less to solar panels and more to poor use of solar panels and not wanting charlatans to sour solar panels for useful things by trying to scam people with them. For this price you'd be better off buying a luxury ev, getting a new roof on your house and installing solar there. you'd have money left over and be able to actually put a meaningful charge on your car using solar that way.

This comment is spot on. Configuring the most expensive EV I could think of (Porche Taycan Turbo S) with all the options I could easily add comes to about $225K USD. That leaves ~$30K USD for a solar install to match the price of the Lightyear..

Re: Lightyear One

#45

Post by bigtex »

cool_dude85 wrote: post #7
googlryas wrote: post #4

Has no one done the math on this? Isn't it clearly a horrible idea, based on how much energy is available from the sun over a few square meters if car, versus the amount of energy cars use? I guess if you live in the desert, and every week you park your car for 6 days and drive 1 day.

It's for sure a Nikola Motors situation.

They currently have shipped more semi trucks than Tesla.

Re: Lightyear One

#46

Post by cjsawyer »

thesuitonym wrote: post #38
samschooler wrote: post #8

So it looks like the site pushes solar as a huge benefit but, if you look closer, they are actually being clear its not "unlimited range because sun", its just a boost on top of the plug in charging. Specs say "up to 70km" of additional solar range per day; which I'm assuming is perfect alignment of the sun with the panels for the whole day. So realistically it'd be 10km (or 3%ish of the total plugin range) if its a…

I once saw a concept car that touted a solar roof, not for charging the battery (Although it did that, albeit only slightly) but for running the AC off free electricity. It seemed like a really great idea for a hot summer day. Really, if the solar panels do enough to let me run the radio and maybe charge a phone... that's pretty good. Where I live, I need to have a car, and if that car can double as an emergency sour…

It would also benefit ICE vehicles. If you could run the AC while parked instead of idling that’d be a win

Re: Lightyear One

#47

Post by zackmorris »

aplummer wrote: post #19
margalabargala wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depending on the specific use case, it may not be terrible. I drive a Nissan Leaf. It gets 5.5 mi per kWh in the summer, 4.8 in the winter. My commute is about 7 miles 1-way. So less than 3kWh used daily assuming I just commute. They have a 1kW solar panel on their car. If I had a car with the efficiency of my Leaf that charged from a 1kW panel every day, it's conceivable that for my specific use case I would rarely…

Wouldn’t it add weight though? It seems like if the car is parked next to a solar panel and drives away without it then it’s a lot more efficient.

Yes but with regenerative breaking, the additional wind resistance is probably a bigger problem above 35 mph.

One trick is to swap out the old 12V lead-acid battery they insist on sticking in electric cars with modern LiFePO4 ones to immediately save 20-25 pounds. Aluminum or alloy wheels might save another 50+ pounds if the car doesn't already have them. So it's conceivable to carry one or two 50 pound solar panels for free. An inverter and additional batteries to buffer the charge will add some weight though, since most electric cars have the artificial limitation that they can't charge while driving.

Re: Lightyear One

#49

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

googlryas wrote: post #4

Has no one done the math on this? Isn't it clearly a horrible idea, based on how much energy is available from the sun over a few square meters if car, versus the amount of energy cars use? I guess if you live in the desert, and every week you park your car for 6 days and drive 1 day.

> I guess if you live in the desert, and every week you park your car for 6 days and drive 1 day.

I live in the high (semi) desert in northern New Mexico, and for myself and a lot of my neighbors, that's precisely the situation we're in.

Doesn't mean we would drop $255k on a car, however. For that kind of money, I could have a ground mount array plus batteries that could provide enough juice to recharge a conventional EV in a couple of hours.

Re: Lightyear One

#50

Post by dzhiurgis »

aplummer wrote: post #19
margalabargala wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depending on the specific use case, it may not be terrible. I drive a Nissan Leaf. It gets 5.5 mi per kWh in the summer, 4.8 in the winter. My commute is about 7 miles 1-way. So less than 3kWh used daily assuming I just commute. They have a 1kW solar panel on their car. If I had a car with the efficiency of my Leaf that charged from a 1kW panel every day, it's conceivable that for my specific use case I would rarely…

Wouldn’t it add weight though? It seems like if the car is parked next to a solar panel and drives away without it then it’s a lot more efficient.

1kwp of solar cells weighs in the order of 10kgs, double for whole assembly, triple for the inverter.
Post reply on HN