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I assume you haven't actually been to these cities. Because it's not like the entire city is a massive Shinjuku with ultra-high density and no sunlit spaces. I

I assume you haven't actually been to these cities. Because it's not like the entire city is a massive Shinjuku with ultra-high density and no sunlit spaces. It is mostly open places e.g. parks, regular housing, office zones etc with concentrations of apartments in select areas. And it doesn't address the point that 1/3 of Europe rents and can't just add solar panels.

steveBK123 4y ago
I have been to many of these cities, and I am thinking in percentage of consumers not percentage of land. Given the density of the dense areas, a quite large percentage of people live in these areas. Beyond that.. Yes Tokyo is a big sprawling city with lots of low-rise neighborhoods. However it's not like Tokyo really has street parking there either. Most of these cars are going to be underground. You need a permit in many areas of Japan certifying you have off-street parking for any car you purchase. So again, Tokyo is not like NYC where people just street park cars all over the place. That's why people complain about the urban character of US vs W Europe/Japan/etc.. most of those places don't have the "car culture" of America. You don't even need to add solar panels. Just being within 50ft of a 110V outlet one night a week is going to get you as much charge as these solar roof pipe dreams. There's a reason basically none of these have gone to market and the startups proposing them are either bankrupt or on the verge of it..
rhino369 4y ago
I've been to Seoul twice since Thanksgiving. The cars mostly seemed to be parked in garages.
genezeta 4y ago
Western Europe city resident for more than 30 years. Medium sized capital. "Sunny" is what they call this place. A very large part of the parking space in the city is underground. Almost all housing with parking space have it built under the building. Here "regular housing" is apartment buildings and there are only a few smaller areas with single-family houses. Most recent shopping malls have underground parking too. Only a handful have open surface level parking and that's the ones outside the city. Not just shopping malls, the trend for smaller supermarkets currently being built is having inside parking. As for parks... most just don't have any parking space. The two or three that do, it is indeed open surface level parking. But most parks in the city just don't have parking space. You walk there or take public transport. There is, sure, parking in the street. And this is generally a sunny city, as I said. And yet, a large part of street parking space available is under tree shade and/or under a building's shade for most of the day. A street where you can park and that is wide enough to get more sun will very likely have trees planted. So... yes, there is a lot of sun here, there's no discussing that. But the city is just not built to let parked cars get those sun rays. ---- On the other hand, yes, it's not feasible for a large part of the population to put solar panels up at home. That is undeniable. Some companies are trying to come at this from a different angle: they are promoting installing solar panels as a shared resource for the whole building. The downside is that usually you don't use it, but just sell it back to the network. But it does produce an extra source which, at the end of the day, is what counts. It may not be the best solution, but it's what you can do.

steveBK123 4y ago

I have been to many of these cities, and I am thinking in percentage of consumers not percentage of land. Given the density of the dense areas, a quite large percentage of people live in these areas. Beyond that.. Yes Tokyo is a big sprawling city with lots of low-rise neighborhoods. However it's not like Tokyo really has street parking there either. Most of these cars are going to be underground. You need a permit in many areas of Japan certifying you have off-street parking for any car you purchase. So again, Tokyo is not like NYC where people just street park cars all over the place. That's why people complain about the urban character of US vs W Europe/Japan/etc.. most of those places don't have the "car culture" of America. You don't even need to add solar panels. Just being within 50ft of a 110V outlet one night a week is going to get you as much charge as these solar roof pipe dreams. There's a reason basically none of these have gone to market and the startups proposing them are either bankrupt or on the verge of it..

rhino369 4y ago

I've been to Seoul twice since Thanksgiving. The cars mostly seemed to be parked in garages.

genezeta 4y ago

Western Europe city resident for more than 30 years. Medium sized capital. "Sunny" is what they call this place. A very large part of the parking space in the city is underground. Almost all housing with parking space have it built under the building. Here "regular housing" is apartment buildings and there are only a few smaller areas with single-family houses. Most recent shopping malls have underground parking too. Only a handful have open surface level parking and that's the ones outside the city. Not just shopping malls, the trend for smaller supermarkets currently being built is having inside parking. As for parks... most just don't have any parking space. The two or three that do, it is indeed open surface level parking. But most parks in the city just don't have parking space. You walk there or take public transport. There is, sure, parking in the street. And this is generally a sunny city, as I said. And yet, a large part of street parking space available is under tree shade and/or under a building's shade for most of the day. A street where you can park and that is wide enough to get more sun will very likely have trees planted. So... yes, there is a lot of sun here, there's no discussing that. But the city is just not built to let parked cars get those sun rays. ---- On the other hand, yes, it's not feasible for a large part of the population to put solar panels up at home. That is undeniable. Some companies are trying to come at this from a different angle: they are promoting installing solar panels as a shared resource for the whole building. The downside is that usually you don't use it, but just sell it back to the network. But it does produce an extra source which, at the end of the day, is what counts. It may not be the best solution, but it's what you can do.