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This has always seemed like the most stupid-obvious idea to me. It's amazing to see some recent examples getting closer to production! There are also mod kits a

This has always seemed like the most stupid-obvious idea to me. It's amazing to see some recent examples getting closer to production! There are also mod kits available for some EVs which allow you to attach solar body panels that charge the propulsion batteries. And we have some examples of fully solar-powered EVs that have empowered nomads to travel the world without refueling or charging from electric grids. The fact that this is not already normal is insane.

anamexis 4y ago
How are people traveling the world with "up to 40 miles per day in optimal sun conditions"?
- kQq9oHeAz6wLLS 4y ago
  They didn't say how long it would take...
  - cjtrowbridge 4y ago
    Recouping daily commutes with solar is trivial.
- MichaelCollins 4y ago
  The car this article is about gets 10-20 miles a day. Also "optimal sun conditions" obviously means keeping your car in direct sunlight the entire day. That rules out putting your car in a garage, which consequently rules out most urban use where short distances would be sufficient for most use.
  - colinsane 4y ago
    depends on your neighborhood/city. a lot of places in the US make heavy use of street-side parking. at the least, it does position itself counter to any push at more efficient land use in cities.
    - MichaelCollins 4y ago
      Maybe it's useful in small towns with low buildings and low street crime. In my neighborhood, tall buildings shade the streets for much of the day, and I wouldn't like to store my car outside anyway due to the property crime. There are also a lot of trees, which are quite nice but would frustrate anybody with a solar car. So mass adoption of solar cars would discourage tall buildings and tree-lined streets.
    - yunwal 4y ago
      Street-side parking in urban areas still doesn't get direct sunlight more than a few hours a day, since tall buildings block the sun. Perhaps useful in a few west coast cities, but usually it's either "short buildings + garage" or "tall buildings + outdoor parking".
      - cjtrowbridge 4y ago
        Solar panels don't need direct sunlight to produce power.
- throw827474737 4y ago
  Google average commute times snd distances, you will be surprised even for the US.
  - cjtrowbridge 4y ago
    As someone who worked at America's only electric vehicle charging manufacturer, the average commute is about 30 miles. With EVs like the Bolt getting 3.9mi/kwh, that comes to 7.6kwh/day. At an average daily solar production of 5 hours at rated capacity, that's 1520wh of production capacity or about a hundred square feet; less than a third the surface area of a normal parking space.
- DennisP 4y ago
  Simple, just recharge it like any other electric car. The main point of solar on cars is so you don't have to bother recharging just for your daily driving around town.
potatochup 4y ago
Lots of extra cost + weight + complexity for marginal benefit. In very specific scenarios it makes sense, but it's usually better to just put the panels on your roof. Most people when shopping for EVs are concerned primarily about single charge range, which solar panels don't really help with. I'm interested to see what these companies come up with, but the proof will come if these companies are still around in 5-10 years.
- Schroedingersat 4y ago
  500W of cells is about 1kg with another kg of resin on top if there's a surface to bond them to. And costs about $100
  - potatochup 4y ago
    $100 + labour for assembly + testing to make sure the panel works + the cost of an extra DCDC converter + wiring to the roof + supply chain risk with all the above parts. Toyota tried it for a while, but I don't think any new Prius models have a solar roof.
    - Schroedingersat 4y ago
      Which are all quite minimal costs compared to many other features with very little or negative utility. Like anything with cars it's purely a matter of fashion, ego, and perception. Noone who isn't making a purely emotional decision buys a new car. Adding a thousand or two and 5kg is completely irrelevant. If people don't percieve an extra 10-20 miles a day as worth the ugly blue rectangles, then the one with them could be 200kg lighter and $5000 cheaper and it still wouldn't sell.
    - cjtrowbridge 4y ago
      Cars are made by robots. Marginal labor cost is not a thing for car manufacturing.
amenghra 4y ago
My car spends the majority of its life in a covered parking structure. Solar on roofs (as sibling comment also suggested) probably makes more sense in the vast majority of cases.
- throw827474737 4y ago
  Why not both, and more? We will need a lot if we want to keep some lifestyle...
jeffbee 4y ago
It only seems obvious until you try to build one. The people in the "Sunrayce" have been doing this for 30+ years. What you get is a hugely inconvenient fared e-bike with no night capabilities. The amount of sunlight that hits a car-sized object just isn't that high. Everyone is the real world is better-served by a regular old bicycle, or an electric car. There's no innovation here. The economics of solar panels are not making them any more efficient, just cheaper. The ideal aerodynamics were solved long ago. This car that Cal entered in the Solar Challenge 2022 is substantially the same vehicle they entered in 1997. https://calsol.berkeley.edu/ https://calsol.berkeley.edu/
- cjtrowbridge 4y ago
  I did build one so thanks for sharing your opinion but go try it yourself and see how easy it is.
memen 4y ago
It isn't that stupid-obvious for engineers [0]. It is just too little solar panel on a roof that you'd rather not leave out in the sun. Also, expensive. [0]: https://youtu.be/xIokNnjuam8 https://youtu.be/xIokNnjuam8
twblalock 4y ago
> The fact that this is not already normal is insane. I don't know anyone who would want to buy the car in that article. I know plenty of people who have EVs, and I have one too, and still I don't think a single one of my EV-owning friends would buy that car. It's too compromised. What makes a lot more sense is to put the solar panels on your roof and use them to charge a normal EV, all of which are better at being cars than this thing is. Doing so can also reduce your power bills, heat a swimming pool, and even charge a battery that can power your house during grid outages. Solar power is great! But the panels don't need to be attached to the car to be useful. That's why this is not already normal.
- cjtrowbridge 4y ago
  You don't seem to understand the argument. Your car is covered in body panels; those panels could be producing the power to recharge the car. It doesn't matter what the car looks like; any car could work this way.

anamexis 4y ago

How are people traveling the world with "up to 40 miles per day in optimal sun conditions"?

kQq9oHeAz6wLLS 4y ago
They didn't say how long it would take...
- cjtrowbridge 4y ago
  Recouping daily commutes with solar is trivial.
MichaelCollins 4y ago
The car this article is about gets 10-20 miles a day. Also "optimal sun conditions" obviously means keeping your car in direct sunlight the entire day. That rules out putting your car in a garage, which consequently rules out most urban use where short distances would be sufficient for most use.
- colinsane 4y ago
  depends on your neighborhood/city. a lot of places in the US make heavy use of street-side parking. at the least, it does position itself counter to any push at more efficient land use in cities.
  - MichaelCollins 4y ago
    Maybe it's useful in small towns with low buildings and low street crime. In my neighborhood, tall buildings shade the streets for much of the day, and I wouldn't like to store my car outside anyway due to the property crime. There are also a lot of trees, which are quite nice but would frustrate anybody with a solar car. So mass adoption of solar cars would discourage tall buildings and tree-lined streets.
  - yunwal 4y ago
    Street-side parking in urban areas still doesn't get direct sunlight more than a few hours a day, since tall buildings block the sun. Perhaps useful in a few west coast cities, but usually it's either "short buildings + garage" or "tall buildings + outdoor parking".
    - cjtrowbridge 4y ago
      Solar panels don't need direct sunlight to produce power.
throw827474737 4y ago
Google average commute times snd distances, you will be surprised even for the US.
- cjtrowbridge 4y ago
  As someone who worked at America's only electric vehicle charging manufacturer, the average commute is about 30 miles. With EVs like the Bolt getting 3.9mi/kwh, that comes to 7.6kwh/day. At an average daily solar production of 5 hours at rated capacity, that's 1520wh of production capacity or about a hundred square feet; less than a third the surface area of a normal parking space.
DennisP 4y ago
Simple, just recharge it like any other electric car. The main point of solar on cars is so you don't have to bother recharging just for your daily driving around town.

potatochup 4y ago

Lots of extra cost + weight + complexity for marginal benefit. In very specific scenarios it makes sense, but it's usually better to just put the panels on your roof. Most people when shopping for EVs are concerned primarily about single charge range, which solar panels don't really help with. I'm interested to see what these companies come up with, but the proof will come if these companies are still around in 5-10 years.

Schroedingersat 4y ago
500W of cells is about 1kg with another kg of resin on top if there's a surface to bond them to. And costs about $100
- potatochup 4y ago
  $100 + labour for assembly + testing to make sure the panel works + the cost of an extra DCDC converter + wiring to the roof + supply chain risk with all the above parts. Toyota tried it for a while, but I don't think any new Prius models have a solar roof.
  - Schroedingersat 4y ago
    Which are all quite minimal costs compared to many other features with very little or negative utility. Like anything with cars it's purely a matter of fashion, ego, and perception. Noone who isn't making a purely emotional decision buys a new car. Adding a thousand or two and 5kg is completely irrelevant. If people don't percieve an extra 10-20 miles a day as worth the ugly blue rectangles, then the one with them could be 200kg lighter and $5000 cheaper and it still wouldn't sell.
  - cjtrowbridge 4y ago
    Cars are made by robots. Marginal labor cost is not a thing for car manufacturing.

amenghra 4y ago

My car spends the majority of its life in a covered parking structure. Solar on roofs (as sibling comment also suggested) probably makes more sense in the vast majority of cases.

throw827474737 4y ago
Why not both, and more? We will need a lot if we want to keep some lifestyle...

jeffbee 4y ago

It only seems obvious until you try to build one. The people in the "Sunrayce" have been doing this for 30+ years. What you get is a hugely inconvenient fared e-bike with no night capabilities. The amount of sunlight that hits a car-sized object just isn't that high. Everyone is the real world is better-served by a regular old bicycle, or an electric car. There's no innovation here. The economics of solar panels are not making them any more efficient, just cheaper. The ideal aerodynamics were solved long ago. This car that Cal entered in the Solar Challenge 2022 is substantially the same vehicle they entered in 1997. https://calsol.berkeley.edu/ https://calsol.berkeley.edu/

cjtrowbridge 4y ago
I did build one so thanks for sharing your opinion but go try it yourself and see how easy it is.

memen 4y ago

It isn't that stupid-obvious for engineers [0]. It is just too little solar panel on a roof that you'd rather not leave out in the sun. Also, expensive. [0]: https://youtu.be/xIokNnjuam8 https://youtu.be/xIokNnjuam8

twblalock 4y ago

> The fact that this is not already normal is insane. I don't know anyone who would want to buy the car in that article. I know plenty of people who have EVs, and I have one too, and still I don't think a single one of my EV-owning friends would buy that car. It's too compromised. What makes a lot more sense is to put the solar panels on your roof and use them to charge a normal EV, all of which are better at being cars than this thing is. Doing so can also reduce your power bills, heat a swimming pool, and even charge a battery that can power your house during grid outages. Solar power is great! But the panels don't need to be attached to the car to be useful. That's why this is not already normal.

cjtrowbridge 4y ago
You don't seem to understand the argument. Your car is covered in body panels; those panels could be producing the power to recharge the car. It doesn't matter what the car looks like; any car could work this way.