Solar Panel Roof
Created October 4, 2007, at 6:21 pm by pederb
Hello, a newbe here,
How come that nobody is using built-in solar panels in the car roof? They could feed the a/c and also charge the batteries. Would be nice to be able to have the a/c running while you are shopping in the summer, plus it would increase fuel economy if the a/c was disconnected from the motor.
Peder
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The amount of surface area on the roof of a car isn't very big. If you aren't careful, the drag caused by adding cells could waste more energy than the cells produce.
A good smooth design, however, could be used at least to drive a fan to circulate air through the vehicle. I doubt that there's enough energy generated to actually run the airconditioner and it certainly won't get you very far by charging the batteries. I've seen estimates of maybe 1 mile per day in the middle of the summer. Kind of like the Mars Rovers that have maxed at about 1 km in a day. The Rovers, however, have very expensive, multi-junction cells.
If you really want a solar powered car, wait until plug-in hybrids or pure EV's are available and put solar cells on the roof of your house to charge them.
I found a after market roof http://www.solarelectricalvehicles.com/
Like he said above, it would be a good option for circulating air through the cabin to hopefully keep the temperature down. It could also trickle-charge the battery. Every little bit can help.
Theres a new type of solar panel...which is a more efficient energy collector...i think its called sliver panel...or somthing...plus.its transparent...and it can be applyed as paint....because the cells are so tiny...can be applyed as clear coat for the car...lol...i think green colour is gonna help more energy collected..i think.
I belive this is one way to extend range and milage on the battery system along with using the Euro spec full electric swith and some other computer tricks on the market. solar is untaped for this use.
I dont belive drag would be an Issue, just add a small wicker bill along the top of the windshild to direct air over the roof panel.
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