4 ms·

Sure. If that's your situation then leave the car outside 24/7 and it will probably work. Hopefully you have a secure, shade-free location. The US DOT says t

by breput 4y ago

Sure. If that's your situation then leave the car outside 24/7 and it will probably work. Hopefully you have a secure, shade-free location. The US DOT says the average miles driven per year is 13,476 miles. You could never ever do even a fraction of that solely with on-vehicle solar.

dzhiurgis 4y ago
Shade might be a problem. Otherwise you can easily fit 3 sqm of panels which at Boston should [1] generate 688 kwh/yr. At 15kwh/100km efficiency that’s 4500km or 2800 miles or about 20% of your figure. So… if you have shade, drive lots or live with little sun - buy something else. But if you can’t install solar on your roof and park on street - maybe solar car is decent fit! 1: https://globalsolaratlas.info/map?c=42.360253,-71.058291,11&s=42.360253,-71.058291&m=site&pv=small,180,0,0.6 https://globalsolaratlas.info/map?c=42.360253,-71.058291,11&...
Schroedingersat 4y ago
So at the quoted 40mi/day for very good sun areas, that's almost exactly your average mileage. More realistically most will get half that, so will have to get slightly more than half their power from a charger. Sounds like a fraction to me. The key difference between the aptera and other versions of similar concepts is they focused on making the vehicle as efficient as possible first. The thing barely uses more energy than a bicycle if the (very reasonable) claims about cd and weight are to be believed. You'd never power a typical ICE car on 3kWh/day, or even something more efficient like a tesla or small electric motorcycle. But if you start with the most efficient vehicle possible, then you can make it work.
ceejayoz 4y ago
> The US DOT says the average miles driven per year is 13,476 miles. You could never ever do even a fraction of that solely with on-vehicle solar. Divide that by 365. 36 miles a day? Seems like it'd be fine here.

by breput 4y ago

dzhiurgis 4y ago

Shade might be a problem. Otherwise you can easily fit 3 sqm of panels which at Boston should [1] generate 688 kwh/yr. At 15kwh/100km efficiency that’s 4500km or 2800 miles or about 20% of your figure. So… if you have shade, drive lots or live with little sun - buy something else. But if you can’t install solar on your roof and park on street - maybe solar car is decent fit! 1: https://globalsolaratlas.info/map?c=42.360253,-71.058291,11&s=42.360253,-71.058291&m=site&pv=small,180,0,0.6 https://globalsolaratlas.info/map?c=42.360253,-71.058291,11&...

Schroedingersat 4y ago

So at the quoted 40mi/day for very good sun areas, that's almost exactly your average mileage. More realistically most will get half that, so will have to get slightly more than half their power from a charger. Sounds like a fraction to me. The key difference between the aptera and other versions of similar concepts is they focused on making the vehicle as efficient as possible first. The thing barely uses more energy than a bicycle if the (very reasonable) claims about cd and weight are to be believed. You'd never power a typical ICE car on 3kWh/day, or even something more efficient like a tesla or small electric motorcycle. But if you start with the most efficient vehicle possible, then you can make it work.

ceejayoz 4y ago

> The US DOT says the average miles driven per year is 13,476 miles. You could never ever do even a fraction of that solely with on-vehicle solar. Divide that by 365. 36 miles a day? Seems like it'd be fine here.