vboring

Electric Vehicle Makers are Riding on Sunlight

the reason why automakers don't bother with solar panels on the roofs of their cars is that it would provide very little practical benefit at a very high price.

today's solar panels produce 100 watts per m^2. say you can put 4 m^2 of panels on your car. at most, under ideal conditions, that will give you .4 kWh of power for each hour you leave your car in the full sun (even a small amount of shade will drastically reduce this generation) or 4kWh for a full 10-hr day. any real car will take at least 20kW to drive at a steady 60 mph. so, a full day's charging will give you 12 miles at freeway speeds. not very impressive.

alternatively, you can buy 4kWh worth of electricity anywhere in the modern world for less than $.60. in my neck of the woods (Seattle), it'd only be $.16.

so, how much are you willing to pay to save $.60/day, assuming ideal conditions?