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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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ex-EV1 driver
Senior Member

4 years ago

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.

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pederb
Junior Member

4 years ago

I found a after market roof http://www.solarelectricalvehicles.com/

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jachristner
Junior Member

4 years ago

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.

Ad

3 years ago

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.

Ron Murray

3 years ago

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.

Ron Murray

3 years ago

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.

Henry Floyd

2 years ago

The newly redesigned Toyota Prius comes standard with solar cells on the moonroof which power ventilation and air conditioning.

dextercath96

2 years ago

It is because solar panel in the car's roof is not that practical. But Solar panel in cars are helping the environment to lessen the pollution. Solar Generator, Is it environmental friendly

equipment?
Ideal for camping or emergency power outages, the
Sun Power Port is a portable generator that when

used
to its full potential will pay for itself in less

than two years.
In one day of full sunshine, the solar panel easily

charges
the 12 volt (standard automobile) battery. An

inverter
changes the DC current to AC.

Sunpowerport Solar Generator

Mike Colins

1 year ago

I guess the major problem with people not using solar panels is that they don't think it will provide enough power for anything.

I did some search on solar portable generator and found that you can actually get enough electricity to run a lap top with Sunforce or PowerEnz products.

However its not just few small and cheap panels, you will actually have to buy the whole package which ads up to about $300 - I would rather spend that money on something else for my car.

florian

27 weeks ago

we are just ramping up a solar roof in series production for a hybrid sports car, check out our home page! In average, the OEM expects that you can drive approx. 200 miles per year from the power supplied by the solar roof! Not too bad ...
Florian

Possibilian

23 weeks ago

That's what gets me about the green movement. It sounds great until you try to do something, and then out rolls the caveats. I tried putting solar panels on my roof and the company selling the solar panels told me to "wait a year, and maybe they will be more efficient". I mean come on. We don't give a damn about pushing air through the car cabin. WE WANT TO TURN THE WEELS TO MAKE THE CAR MOVE! Don't over-sell this stuff until you can back up the words. The world awaits anxiously, me included.

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