The sheer STUPIDITY of "SOLAR cars" | MGUY Australia (video)

youtube ^ | 2/25/2026 | MG Australia

[Signalman]

When we teach "decolonisation" rather than basic physics, this is what we get: ridiculous ideas that should have been consigned to the dustbin of history at birth. The Net Zero Mind Virus is indeed very crippling...

[Maine Mariner]

Great video.

[KarlInOhio]

Good video which goes over the math. The summary: the car doesn’t have enough surface area even in the sunny Australias Outback to charge itself.

[TexasFreeper2009]

it would depend on how far you have to drive to work it seems. If you only drive a couple of miles and the car sits outside all day long in the parking lot not being used. It would be enough.

[TexasFreeper2009]

my wife only drives a mile or so to work and to run errands and she uses a Tesla, and just a standard 120 plug at home is far more than enough to keep it topped off.

[rickomatic]

Aptera.us

[Tell It Right]

Good post.

A summary from my own experience, but without the taudry physics lesson from the video. This is based on my wife and I doing most of our driving in our EV, and us also having decentralized solar for the home (including charging the EV).

Any one of the solar panels for my home dwarfs the top of my car, but we'll pretend we can fit one solar panel onto the roof.

How much power coming in? Assume 400W panel (my solar panels are actually 330W, but they're older). In June here in Sweet Home Alabama I get 6.5 peak solar hours per day on average. 6.5 X 330W = 2.1kWh, even if it was in the sun all day on a June day. So how many miles will 2.1kWh get? I average 3.9 miles per kWh (including running the AC, and sometimes night driving so running the headlights, etc.). 2.1kWh X 3.9 miles/kWh = 8 miles per day.

So 8 miles per day --- on the best day --- without parking in a parking deck, or driving in shadows next to buildings, or driving on the highways with tractor trailer trucks sometimes blocking the sun, etc. Like I said, my solar panel dwarfs the real roof. The real number would probably be closer to 4 miles per day in a summer month in Alabama, less than that in other months or less sunnier climates. And that's not getting into the solar panel getting dirty from being on the road (my home solar panels are cleaned only once or twice per year, but they're not riding around getting dirty like my cars).

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Video Transcript Summary

The video by MGuy, a British engineer and YouTuber now in Sydney, expresses strong frustration with what he sees as poor scientific literacy in modern education and society, particularly around basic physics and energy realities. He argues that schools prioritize topics like decolonization, climate change, critical race theory, and gender identity over fundamentals like reading, writing, arithmetic, and basic science.The core of his rant targets solar-powered electric vehicles (EVs), claiming manufacturers have naively believed rooftop solar panels could meaningfully charge EVs, ignoring massive gaps in solar energy input versus vehicle power needs. He calls this "ludicrous" and an example of "net zero" ideology overriding common sense.Key points from the transcript:

• Solar energy on Earth's surface is limited by physical constants (sun's output, weather, angle of incidence, clouds, etc.).
• Panels are far less than 50% efficient.
• In sunny central Australia, ~6.7 kWh/m²/day arrives, but after losses, a car might get only 2–3 kWh/day—negligible for an EV's needs.
• In cloudier Europe, it's even less.
• He mocks companies like Sono Motors (Sion, marketed as affordable ~€21,000–34,000 solar car adding ~21 miles/day from solar) and Lightyear (Lightyear One/0, promising months without plugging in).
• Both companies failed or pivoted: Sono halted Sion production in 2023 due to funding issues, filed for insolvency, restructured (exited self-administration in 2024 with new investment), and now focuses on solar tech kits (e.g., for buses) rather than full cars. Lightyear halted Lightyear 0 production in 2023 amid financial troubles, pivoted away from full solar EVs, and now supplies solar charging systems (with partnerships like Nissan), though earlier Lightyear 2 plans for 2025 appear stalled or abandoned.
• He cites realistic outcomes: Rooftop solar on production EVs (e.g., Hyundai Ioniq 5, Toyota Prius Prime, Mercedes) adds only a few miles/day (typically 2–15 km under ideal conditions, often ~3–6 miles in practice, or up to ~1,000–1,500 miles/year), mainly for auxiliaries like climate control or 12V battery, not extending main range meaningfully.
• Full solar charging would take days/weeks, not hours, due to limited roof area (few m²) and low power output (1–4 kWh/day max in perfect sun).
• He blames hype, poor education, and ideological "mind virus" for greenlighting such projects, wasting millions.

Overall tone: Sarcastic, anti-EV/solar hype, pro-basics education and physics realism. He promotes his channel, merch (anti-EV items), and donations.In reality, while pure solar cars proved unviable at scale (as failures show), modest onboard solar exists on some models as a minor supplement, not a replacement for plugging in. The physics critique holds: car roofs can't harvest enough energy for substantial driving without breakthroughs in efficiency or area.

[Nateman]

You could have a solar powered house that could recharge the car with the energy that was stored from that. The EV’s are heavier than normal cars so obviously more energy is needed to move them .

[from occupied ga]

you can figure that out easily by yourself. I pulled this info from Google- average watts of solar energy per sq meter 340 at earth's surface. Multiply 340 watts *24 hours = 8160 watt hours Multiply by 20% efficiency of average modern solar cell = 1632 or 1.6 KWH per day per sq meter (about 10.76 sq feet)EVs get 2-3 miles per KWH so if you have a solar array the size of a standard sheet of plywood on your car you get about 4.75 KWH out of it per day so you get about 11-12 miles per day

EVs sucked when they were first introduced in the 1890s and still suck today. It's just that people have a lot less sense today or there wouldn't be so many morons buying them.

[Nervous Tick]

Hey, solar cars are one way to ensure the woke twits are home before dark! 🤣

[from occupied ga]

or you could just have an ICE vehicle and ten years of gas for less than the cost of an EV and whole house solar

[cyclotic]

She’s be better off with a 15 year old Honda Accord. Your coat of ownership is nothing and at a tank or gas a month your cost to drive is almost nothing. Instead you have $60,000 into a car that you don’t really use.

You’re absolutely free to do that but it’s a net loss economically.

[Nateman]

If Civilization collapses would you rather have the 10 years of stored gas on your property or the less dangerous solar panels on the house?

[rlmorel]

I am a fan of this guy...he has made some excellent videos regarding EVs.

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

Do they come with headlights?

[desertsolitaire]

If a person would only keep their EV battery topped off, and seldomly or never discharge it down to 15% or less, won’t the battery develop “memory” in a bad way and no longer be able to hold and discharge fully? Or has that issue been solved?

[Resolute Conservative]

... but... but it makes you feels good...

[Resolute Conservative]

A horse where I live.

[Nateman]

I agree. Horses have been useful to Civilization far longer than cars have.