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The Aptera is a huge beast of a car designed specifically for solar, and I believe the current figure is that it can get 700W at a nice solar optimum. Big sweep
by rektide 3y ago
The Aptera is a huge beast of a car designed specifically for solar, and I believe the current figure is that it can get 700W at a nice solar optimum. Big sweeping hood, roof, and trunk of solar.
I doubt many cars can get 400W. I don't think most cars could maintain even 80 degrees on a 100+ day, but that's just a guess.
- the_third_wave 3y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aptera_(solar_electric_vehicle) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aptera_(solar_electric_vehicle... The Aptera is not "a huge best of a car", it more resembles a seed pod on three wheels. The roof and hood area are quite limited due to this shape which leads to the relatively low solar yield.
- rektide 3y agoYeah not as bad as I thought. It is Model 3 sized. I'd heard people reviewing it say they were quite surprised just how big it was. And the width is almost 88 inches at the wheel pods which is indeed quite big. But overall really quite ok size. I almost signed up for a pre-order but their site was broken, the car was so wide, and I definitely dont need one (but man it'd be cool). The total % of solar seems quite impressive to me. The elongated teardrop looks of anything to do quite a good job exposing surface for solar. There is some loss of "fill factor" with cells having some space between them rather than being totally dense. I'd love to see a car that had more solar. I have a hard time imagining it.