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There's also the huge downside of adding another complex system to your car. It's going to cost a small fortune to replace this when it breaks. People act as th
by zcw100 6y ago
There's also the huge downside of adding another complex system to your car. It's going to cost a small fortune to replace this when it breaks. People act as though solar panels grow on trees. There's an environmental cost to manufacturing and disposing of these things.
- jillesvangurp 6y agoPanels and a few wires. Not that complicated. No moving parts; so very few reasons for this to break. I've seen some pretty beat up panels on boats that are very old and still allow people to charge their phone and have some lights on inside. Super robust stuff. This particular car is priced quite nicely even if it came without this. So does not sound like there is a lot of extra cost. I'm guessing manufacturers spend more on things like seat warmers or other stuff manufacturers put in cars these days. Also these things are probably more likely to break. And if you consider the environment, imagine the energy savings over the life time of the vehicle not charging from (potentially) dirty sources. It would only be a waste if that energy wasn't used which would require you to religiously plug it in the second you stop driving. Also, panels can be recycled (just like cars and batteries) and mostly don't contain that much nasty stuff to begin with. So, I don't see the problem here necessarily.
- eldaisfish 6y agothese are not standard panels and are unlikely to be cheap. PV Panels on roofs or boats are standard panels and any equivalently rated panel will work. Not the case in a car.