Quote:
Originally Posted by deejaaa
that what you mean? tilt automatically or with inboard control?
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Neither.
For the road I figure I need the most aerodynamic shape possible. So the trailer would have to be all folded up while driving. Even if I had 8x30' worth of solar panels, I might make two and slide one on top of the other while driving making an 8x15' trailer for driving
So what I mean by tilting and pulling out reflector panels and such, I meant when stopped and to do it manually.
The idea being that I could drive and get some charge from off the panels, but in a flat aerodynamic stance. But then when out of juice I'd have to pull over and get as much solar charging as possible by tilting the panels and such. Then once charged I'd have to fold them up and go.
From what I can figure, 8' is the maximum allowed width for a trailer. I'd get about 1kW per 8x10'. So 30' would be about 3kW under one sun. But if I reflected twice as much sun on the panels I should get about twice the power, so about 6kW.
So in the end, if I drove long distances in sunny days it would be like taking a level 2 charger along. Of course it would still take a while to get anywhere. But for less than $2000 in solar cells, tabbing wire and solder, it's rather competitive when compared to bringing along a 6kW (constant) generator.
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Still. I'm thinking that the most practical truly "fossil fuel free" option would be to work on aeromods. If I could get the Cd down from .28 to .18 I could increase the range to nearly 160miles at 55mph. That way I'd have to stop less often for charging or charge for shorter times.