Solar-powered vehicle in need of new juice

©2005 Syracuse.com. All Rights Reserved. ^ | Friday, April 21, 2006 | By David L. Shaw

[Behind Liberal Lines]

Heh. Doesn't sound very energy efficient to me, if they have to spend $6000 to $9000 on batteries in a year.

[darkwing104]

[P-40]

Doesn't sound very energy efficient to me

No, but it is a good project for the students. I like this sort of hands-on learning.

[from occupied ga]

But we'd like to get a new set to feel confident. They cost between $6,000 and $9,000 and the school budget doesn't cover parts for the car. It's always been a self-sustaining project," Ostrowski said.

How can it be self sustaining if someone else has to pay for it?

[Rokurota]

$9000 = ~3000 gallons of gas.

3000 gallons of gas = 36000 miles at 12 mpg

$9000 = enough money to drive around the earth ~1.5 times in a gas guzzling SUV.

[alloysteel]

This is one of the basic flaws in any propulsion system that depends in part on storing energy in electric batteries.

The batteries themselves are either very expensive, or have problems with weight and/or reliability.

At best, batteries are only auxiliaries, not a primary energy source.

[mvpel]

$9000 = ~3000 gallons of gas.
3000 gallons of gas = 36000 miles at 12 mpg
$9000 = enough money to drive around the earth ~1.5 times in a gas guzzling SUV.

[cripplecreek]

No, but it is a good project for the students. I like this sort of hands-on learning.

I agree. I doubt anyone expects solar cars to be the wave of the future but the technology may come in handy in other ways.

[Elsie]

The Sunpacer, competing in the one-person commuter class, has won its category in the annual Tour de Sol competition nine of the past 13 years, including the last seven years in a row.

---

Doesn't sound very energy efficient to me, if they have to spend $6000 to $9000 on batteries in a year.

Note to self:

Read slower.....

Think more.

>Doesn't sound very energy efficientECONOMICAL to me, if they have to spend $6000 to $9000 on batteries in a year.

[r9etb]

OTOH, these kids are getting a first hand -- and first class -- look at a real engineering problem. Invaluable.

[KarlInOhio]

Solar-powered vehicle in need of new juice

Well, if I can get its gravity working a little better I can collapse Jupiter to start a fusion reaction. That will give you a new sun. How's that?

[PRO USA1776]

Say I have an Idea....why doesn't Toyota pay for them? It seems they get 80% of their profitsd from the U.S., pay very little in taxes and receive a lot of incentives from state governments.

[G.Mason]

"Heh. Doesn't sound very energy efficient to me, if they have to spend $6000 to $9000 on batteries in a year."

To the contrary.

They are operating on other peoples dough. That makes it cost efficient, just like the government.

[dayglored]

Guys, these all-solar-electric vehicles are not production cars, they are student experimental / demonstrations of solar, electric, and hybrid technologies, and the idea of the race is to foster healthy competition to drive the technologies forward and foster innovation.

Comparing the cost of that effort to the cost of mainstream production autos and fuel is just silly -- you're missing the point of the activity. An all-solar-powered electric car is on the bleeding edge -- I personally don't think it will ever become mainstream, but developing it will produce advances that can integrate into mainstream vehicles.

The current crop of hybrid gas/electric cars (like the Prius and others) didn't just become cost-competitive overnight either -- it took a decade or more of high-cost technology development to get hybrids to the marketplace. Now they're starting to prove themselves in practice.

Let American inventiveness and the free market do their thing -- don't pooh-pooh a car design that's in development just because it's not as cheap as cars that have been in mass production for decades. There are good things coming out of these competitions.

[Beagle8U]

"No, but it is a good project for the students. I like this sort of hands-on learning."

I hope they are doing a better job of protecting the stupid things on the road.

About 20 years ago I came within inches of squashing one of them in their multi-state race.

I was driving on a 2 lane road, car in front of me was going very slow, I pulled out to pass him and half way around him I see this stupid thing coming toward me in the other lane, I swerved and run the other car in the ditch to avoid hitting it.

It was no more than 2 feet tall, painted about the same color as the road, and there was no lead car with lights flashing, nothing.
You couldn't see the stupid thing coming in the other lane.

I was driving a jacked up 4x4 pick-up and would have squashed it flat!

[Concho]

It is often times just as valuable to prove that these things wont work as it is to prove that they will.

The other question is: If this is such good research, why doesnt the battery maker provide the batteries for the student research. It would be tax deductible for them and would be excellent PR. Perhaps they already have done the math on it. Seems a shame to gouge schools for their research dollars, but it happens all the time.

[Sonar5]

You wrote:
"Heh. Doesn't sound very energy efficient to me, if they have to spend $6000 to $9000 on batteries in a year."

And if you read that article you posted completely you would
have seen this part.

"The Sunpacer, competing in the one-person commuter class, has won its category in the annual Tour de Sol competition nine of the past 13 years, including the last seven years in a row."

It doesn't say how many years those batteries have been used, but it does imply they were used at least last year.

[DBrow]

All these worlds are yours except Europa. Attempt no landings there.

[DBrow]

They could donate a set of Prius batteries at 7.5V per cell, and help the kids rewire the cluster to match the solar cell output.

A great way to inform people about Toyota capabilities.

[P-40]

why doesnt the battery maker provide the batteries for the student research

Going after funding should be the job of the students as that is also part of any real world project and would be a great experience for them.