well, the reason that solar cars are different shapes than regular cars are because they need to maximize vertical surface area so they can maximize room for the solar panels…also they need to increase the aerodynamic shape to decrease wind resistance because after a certain point a car is expending more energy pushing wind than it is overcoming the resistance at the tires….thirdly they are different shapes because efficient cars are not ’sexy’ cars….good examples would be to look at the Hummer H2 and then the Honda Insight or Toyota Prius, on the other hand you can look at Ferrari’s and Lambo’s for a good mixture of **** and efficient (although expensive and not user friendly)
some of the reasons that people aren’t driving solar cars are because of the limited nature of battery packs, the irregularity of the Sun for charging and the lack of commercial availability….battery packs are still not up to the use requirements of transportation the way we need them in every day life….we still use a hybrid mixture of gas and electric because the electric simply can’t last long enough to use for long journeys….besides that, they are still very heavy compared to their storage capacity…even the chevy volt-the pinnacle of electric cars will have a 40 mile range per charge…furthermore the sun doesn’t always shine, and it shines brighter in some areas and not so much in others….in the north the consumer has to worry about snow accumulation over the solar cells, the consumer would also have to park outside at home in a sunny spot and also at work or while running errands (which isn’t always possible, though some places are starting to create public charging stations for plug in vehicles which could be added to a solar charge car)
another big problem is that major car companies have not produced a single viable all electric car yet, save the chevy volt that is supposed to come out soon and the shortlived GM EV1 which is no longer produced….the only electric car available now are go-kart or golf-car like and virtually none of them are solar powered but rather are plug-in
gas is still not so expensive that we humans are willing to put up with such inconveniences
edit to add that I believe the Toyota Prius is working on a Solar option that would help charge the batteries and run the A/C
Also, solar cells do not offer a tremendous amount of electrical energy per square meter of area exposed to direct sunlight. A solar powered automobile would still need a huge battery on board, which will be a load that the power system will have to sustain.
I wouldn’t bet on being able to get more than about 5 to 10 amps of current at 12V from a solar panel covering every square meter of a car’s surface, and that would be good for charging for hours or even days, but not for driving the motor to accelerate you from a stop. You’d probably need several hundred amps to actually drive.
Wonderful site, where did you come up with the information in this write-up? I’m pleased I found it though, ill be checking back soon to see what other articles you have.
November 25th, 2008 at 2:42 am
well, the reason that solar cars are different shapes than regular cars are because they need to maximize vertical surface area so they can maximize room for the solar panels…also they need to increase the aerodynamic shape to decrease wind resistance because after a certain point a car is expending more energy pushing wind than it is overcoming the resistance at the tires….thirdly they are different shapes because efficient cars are not ’sexy’ cars….good examples would be to look at the Hummer H2 and then the Honda Insight or Toyota Prius, on the other hand you can look at Ferrari’s and Lambo’s for a good mixture of **** and efficient (although expensive and not user friendly)
some of the reasons that people aren’t driving solar cars are because of the limited nature of battery packs, the irregularity of the Sun for charging and the lack of commercial availability….battery packs are still not up to the use requirements of transportation the way we need them in every day life….we still use a hybrid mixture of gas and electric because the electric simply can’t last long enough to use for long journeys….besides that, they are still very heavy compared to their storage capacity…even the chevy volt-the pinnacle of electric cars will have a 40 mile range per charge…furthermore the sun doesn’t always shine, and it shines brighter in some areas and not so much in others….in the north the consumer has to worry about snow accumulation over the solar cells, the consumer would also have to park outside at home in a sunny spot and also at work or while running errands (which isn’t always possible, though some places are starting to create public charging stations for plug in vehicles which could be added to a solar charge car)
another big problem is that major car companies have not produced a single viable all electric car yet, save the chevy volt that is supposed to come out soon and the shortlived GM EV1 which is no longer produced….the only electric car available now are go-kart or golf-car like and virtually none of them are solar powered but rather are plug-in
gas is still not so expensive that we humans are willing to put up with such inconveniences
edit to add that I believe the Toyota Prius is working on a Solar option that would help charge the batteries and run the A/C
November 27th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Night.
Also, solar cells do not offer a tremendous amount of electrical energy per square meter of area exposed to direct sunlight. A solar powered automobile would still need a huge battery on board, which will be a load that the power system will have to sustain.
I wouldn’t bet on being able to get more than about 5 to 10 amps of current at 12V from a solar panel covering every square meter of a car’s surface, and that would be good for charging for hours or even days, but not for driving the motor to accelerate you from a stop. You’d probably need several hundred amps to actually drive.
October 5th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
haha i think we are doing the same project. thanks mufasa1023 for the help. its really appreciated
November 24th, 2009 at 2:30 am
Hi, this was also really helpful on my green technology essay because I did solar cars! YayY for information
December 16th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
I was wondering if you could list more reasons why people aren’t driving solar powered cars would really help me
Thanks
February 27th, 2010 at 10:00 pm
more info
February 7th, 2011 at 6:22 pm
Wonderful site, where did you come up with the information in this write-up? I’m pleased I found it though, ill be checking back soon to see what other articles you have.
May 10th, 2011 at 6:58 pm
Electric Cars are our future and we will very soon see them as such.. keep up the good work