Ugly as sin but I’m down if I can drive it mostly solar and plug in when needed in a more temperate climate
Edit: I feel like a lot of you are forgetting it just needs to get you to work, where it sits in the sun for 8-12 hours, then home where it can be plugged into homes or left outside for non-homeowners. If it can build enough charge during that work parking lot for me to get home and then top up on the home charger, that’s a huge plus over just plugging in and eating grid energy all the time. I’m not expecting the thing to have no battery and just convert sunlight to movement like magic jfc….
I can’t YET, this is clearly early technology, in a few years who knows. Remember we went from not being able to fly to landing on the moon in a lifetime
The problem is, there just isn’t that much energy in sunlight, so even a perfect solar panel that captured 100% of the sun’s energy wouldn’t get you very far.
you can make the engine more efficient, but at some point there is a minimum amount of energy needed to get the thing moving and they are already quite close to fully efficient. To reduce energy needed any further you can make the car lighter, but that obviously cannot be improved indefinitely.
I’m not very well versed in solar tech, but what I think I know is that we’ve already approached about the max efficiency out of solar already, so there probably won’t be large gains going forward.
Ugly as sin but I’m down if I can drive it mostly solar and plug in when needed in a more temperate climate
Edit: I feel like a lot of you are forgetting it just needs to get you to work, where it sits in the sun for 8-12 hours, then home where it can be plugged into homes or left outside for non-homeowners. If it can build enough charge during that work parking lot for me to get home and then top up on the home charger, that’s a huge plus over just plugging in and eating grid energy all the time. I’m not expecting the thing to have no battery and just convert sunlight to movement like magic jfc….
Well, I wouldn’t expect a bunch of engineering students to be on the cutting edge of style anyway, so I’ll cut them some slack in that department.
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You wouldn’t, there is actually very little energy in solar for an array the size of a vehicle roof, and it would likely take days to recharge.
I can’t YET, this is clearly early technology, in a few years who knows. Remember we went from not being able to fly to landing on the moon in a lifetime
The problem is, there just isn’t that much energy in sunlight, so even a perfect solar panel that captured 100% of the sun’s energy wouldn’t get you very far.
nope. not “yet”. just not physically possible. even with 100% efficient panels.
There just is not enough energy in the sunlight hitting the car. You would have to somehow make the sun shine brighter. Which is not really possible.
The amount of power is limited, but can’t the tech improve to make cars that require less power?
you can make the engine more efficient, but at some point there is a minimum amount of energy needed to get the thing moving and they are already quite close to fully efficient. To reduce energy needed any further you can make the car lighter, but that obviously cannot be improved indefinitely.
Fuck, don’t give them ideas, climate change is bad enough as it is…
I’m not very well versed in solar tech, but what I think I know is that we’ve already approached about the max efficiency out of solar already, so there probably won’t be large gains going forward.
Www.Aptera.us has 700 watts of solar and consumes ~100wh/mile.