Why Don't We Just Use Solar Powered Cars?
Nov 01, 2022 7:01 am
Why Don't We Just Use Solar Powered Cars?
2 min read
Given South Africa’s electrical supply issues, charging time, and the range concern attached with electrical vehicles (EVs), wouldn’t it be simple for us to just stick solar panels on the roofs of our cars and use that to power them?
This is not a new idea. In fact, the concept of solar powered cars first came along in 1955 when William Cobb of General Motors built a tiny model car called the ‘Sunmobile’. It was powered by 12 selenium PV cells and an electric motor. The first real sized solar powered car came about in 1962 when a 1912 Model Baker was fitted with 10 640 solar cells. There were a few others thereafter, but none really materialised into a successful vehicle due to the lack of speed, range, reliability and or cost effectiveness.
There are currently companies accepting pre-orders for their solar powered cars that have yet to be mass produced, some of which do not even have prototypes yet. So, what are the problems facing solar powered cars?
1. Low solar efficiency rate
Solar panels are generally 15-25% efficient. This means that they only successfully extract 15-25% of the energy they receive from the sun’s rays. This low efficiency rate would limit the amount of energy a solar powered car could extract and even possibly lead to not extracting enough energy at a time.
2. Space
Cars have much less space on them to store solar panels as opposed to a house which can store panels on its roof or in the yard. Even if the engineering difficulties of placing a solar panel on the roof of a car were overcome, it is estimated that with the electricity generated by that one solar panel, it would take 17 days to fully charge a car.
Other factors include, weather, hours of sunlight in one day, angle of the sun’s rays on the solar panels and many other factors. This means that even if these challenges were overcome, solar powered cars would not be completely exempt from plug-in charging.
Solar powered car companies are also exploring the possibility of adding solar cells to the front, sides and back of cars. This will increase the amount of energy generated by the car’s solar cells and thus provide more range. These designs are still in their infant stages.
Do you think solar cars will ever be a thing? Do you think companies will be able to do it before the end of the decade? Would you link to own a solar powered car? Share your thoughts by replying to this email!
For more information on solar powered cars or any other energy related articles, view the blog posts on my website and be sure to open my weekly emails every Tuesday at 9am CAT.
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