Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard
It also gets power from the solar panels, and that is how they raced it in Australia. But when they drove it around the world (!!) they also charged the battery overnight, so as to travel farther each day.
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So when they compete they use the solar panels so as to compete as a solar vehicle.
But the round the world record is for an electric vehicle not specifically a solar only vehicle.
That makes more sense.
The car is pretty much covered in solar panels. I wonder if a trailer could be attached to provide more solar panel area. Allowing the car to run entirely on solar.
As the trailer wouldn't need to allow for passengers and battery weight etc it could be very light weight and extremely low wind resistance.
They managed to put 800 watts or so of panels on the car. A trailer should be able to fit 2kW of panels at least.
A trailer would probably be outside the rules for solar car competitions but could be used for the round the world trip. It would be quite cheap to build too. No motors, no batteries, no passengers just a flat panel with wheels. If it could be attached close enough behind the car it may also be able to be shaped to assist with the overall aerodynamic shape.