this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2023
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Cars are an inconvenient and silly location to place solar panels. This concept is just adding engineering complexity that need not be.
Solar modules are cheap, why not integrate them into the car? I'd love to get an extra 6 miles of range on my leaf per day just for being in the sun.
I feel like I shouldn't have to explain something so obvious/ easily googled, but here is a write up that explains it.
Quite simply, we should make solar panels that are good and meet the need of what it takes to be a good solar panel.
We should make cars that are good cars and meet the needs of what it takes to be a good car.
A car with a solar panel meets neither of these requirements. Its a stupid way to do both. You are introducing un-neccessary engineering issues to make both a) a worse car, and b) a worse solar panel. Your panels need to now be structural and able to protect the occupants. You've also made the car heavier and less efficient. Also, how about when the car is fully charged? How useful are those panels? What good are they doing anyone? If your answer is to send their power to the grid, why did we ever put them on the car in the first place when we can just power the grid with solar and then put the energy into the car?
Solar panels on cares are a dumb idea. It takes only a few moments of thinking it through to understand that. Also, powering the grid with solar, and then powering your car from the grid IS a solar powered car.
Your comment has a huge asterisk next to every point: for now*
Mp3 players, gps, and rollodexes all were superior until they weren't. Now they are trivial components of something we carry everywhere all the time.
The same is true of current solar capabilities. The future is multifaceted and we get there sooner when people try.
Sure. These are 'for now' points. But every improvement will also improve existing infrastructure and methods, so the most likely outcome will be that it will still make more sense to have solar panels be one thing, and a car be a separate thing.
Now a tow-behind RV pulled by an electric truck, that once parked can deploy its panels and charge the truck/ power the RV? That would make a ton of sense. But just in general, we can keep solar panels much simpler if all that needs to happen is they get mounted on something tall enough to not be blocked by the sun.