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Old 07-22-2010, 05:30 PM   #103 (permalink)
TheEnemy
The road not so traveled
 
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Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: New Mexico
Posts: 680

The Truck - '99 Nissan Frontier xe
90 day: 25.74 mpg (US)

The Ugly Duck - '84 Jeep CJ7 Rock crawler
Thanks: 18
Thanked 66 Times in 57 Posts
A 200w pannel covers 12.5 ft^2, using my truck as a model, with a footprint of approx 5'X12' approx 75% usable space (if I use a shell on the back) gives me 720w, or approx 3/4 hp of usable power, (worst case).

Entering a 3000 lb vehicle with an abysmal (for the cars in the competition) .2cd and 20ft^2 frontal area in the calculator, at 45mph requires 5.36hp.

The panels would supply about 13.5% of the power needed, approx 10mpge improvement.
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