[sodpoodle]

I thought I had a genius idea, but decided to research it. Found this.

[TexasM1A]

Because they would get damaged or stolen.

[T.B. Yoits]

Drivers will need to own three solar cars.

(Starting with Vehicle 1 already parked at work).
-Drive Vehicle 2 to work (Vehicle 3 is parked at home charging)
-Drive Vehicle 1 (two-day-charged) home
-Drive Vehicle 3 (two-day-charged) to work
-Drive Vehicle 2 (two-day-charged) home
-Drive Vehicle 1 (two-day-charged) to
-Drive Vehicle 3 (two-day-charged) home
Repeat

If you do any weekend driving, no problem; you can add a fourth or fifth car. Order them in different colors to help keep track of where they are in the process.

[ctdonath2]

Electric pickups will soon have the option of a solar bed cover. Paltry as the output is, should produce enough to get you to an outlet after a day or two. I view it purely as an emergency TEOTWAWKI type tool, providing some mobility when the grid is down (both gas and electric) or far.

[Bernard]

The people across the street from me had very small panels installed on their roof yesterday. Each one looks like it is the size of a cooking pan. So if those are actually solar panels, that arrangement might work for a passenger vehicle.

Talk about a 21st century Sun Roof!

[Renfrew]

Solar panels make money when they are south facing, properly angled, and in a sunny environment.

None of those apply to car roofs. It would take a very long time to cover the cost of the panels.

[Presbyterian Reporter]

“””WHY DON’T ELECTRIC CARS HAVE SOLAR PANELS ON THE ROOF?”””

---

For the same reason the Fossil Fuel Electrical Generating Plants have to subsidize uneconomic Solar Panel Electrical Generating Plants.

[cyclotic]

There’s also a significant drop in efficiency when solar panels are dirty.

Cars would need to be washed every day or two, and probably hand washed at that.

That’s one more thing the solar people don’t tell their victims, I mean customers. They need to get on their roof and wash the panels frequently to maintain peak efficiency.

[Bobalu]

I saw where a guy covered a small pontoon boat top with solar panels.

There were two of those electric trolling motors that ran from batteries charged by the sun.

It worked, or seemed to, but it was kinda slow.

The boat mostly sat where it caught the sun all day.

[KarlInOhio]

On average, a 10 square foot solar panel can generate approximately 50 watts with direct sunlight. This is the equivalent of a single lightbulb. Since most cars only have 10 to 25 square feet of space on their roof, the maximum amount of power they can generate is 50 to 150 watts.

Is that average over day and night in all weather? Those numbers don't match the fact he uses "maximum" later. Because direct solar radiation at noon is about 1000 watts per square meter (10.8 square feet), 50 watts implies a 5% efficiency unless he is averaging over all time and weather.

Compare that to a 100 horsepower engine which is 74,600 watts.

[RatRipper]

Car makers selling out to electric is a dumb idea. I just don’t see electric cars meeting the needs of consumers. Don’t see how they will do long trips. I don’t think they will even be able to replace pick-up trucks.

[familyop]

LOL! Wood-gas is one way to go for vehicles.

[dfwgator]

Mr. Fusion will solve all that....

[familyop]

I built a solar power plant and used it for about 6 years. Didn’t use it to power any vehicle, though. ;)

[Antioch]

Bridgestone World Solar Challenge Is an annual Mad Max style 3000 mile race through the Australian outback with purely solar cars.

[backwoods-engineer]

95% of the American public couldn't calculate the number of hours required to charge a battery with so many Watt-hours of capacity, given the charge power in Watts. Given a calculator.

They are so ignorant of physics that they think solar panels are like lightsabers in the movies-- infinite power in a tiny space.

Our civilization is ending. Soon, a dark, pagan, ignorant time will engulf us all.

[lepton]

Modern solar panels are very efficient, with many capable of turning more than 60 percent of the sun’s power into electricity.

---

And by that, they mean directly facing the sun, which on cars they wouldn’t. And on cloudy days, or outside of about a 6 hour period, those high-efficiency panels would produce essentially no power.

Amorphous silica panels are about half as efficient, but they produce at least something even before sunrise.

On average, a 10 square foot solar panel can generate approximately 50 watts with direct sunlight. This is the equivalent of a single lightbulb. Since most cars only have 10 to 25 square feet of space on their roof, the maximum amount of power they can generate is 50 to 150 watts.

---

At noon, angled to face the sun.

[Musket]

Aptera has launched....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNjUdTJjiNk

[Tallguy]

Back in the ‘70s & ‘80s several technical schools would organize a student engineering project to build & then ‘race’ their solar cars. These cars mounted solar panels on their upper surfaces and as they were all experimental they weren’t designed for comfort or to carry more than a single person/driver. They usually picked the tiniest team member to be the driver, and the cars were constructed from lightweight material. They often broke down. Sometimes the energy calculations were ‘off’ and the cars could not run in realistic conditions. That was the whole point of the exercise, of course. To teach the students how to “work the problem”.

[Vaduz]

Modern solar panels are very efficient.
Electricity is only 35% efficient
Note post #39