Quote:
Originally Posted by Piwoslaw
When I saw this I immediately thought that instead of reflecting all of that light, you could use it. Gascort deleted his alternator and supplemented by covering his wagon's roof with PV:
Solar roof |
If anything that's a cautionary tale. IRC Gascort actually went backwards and his consumption went
up after installing panels/ alt delete.
Flexible panels only have a life span of ~5 years (my first one died at four years). Which means the payback is... never. Glass panels are bulky, heavy, fragile and will probably ruin your aero.
Solar panels turn 20% of the light that hits them to electricity, much of the rest is turned to heat. Not really an eco mod any more than painting your white car's roof black would be. The temp gain is a solid 30+*C, vs white.
In a cold climate the panels might not give you much of a boost, and in a hot climate, you'll always want to park in the shade. The energy from your solar panels won't be enough to offset the A/C use from being parked in the sun.
Anyway, the chrome wrap was step #1 in my
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...els-35415.html
I have relatively specific needs, but my overall opinion agrees with the EM consensus that panels belong on your house, not your car. My gain from 340W panels/ alt disable is ~0.2l/100km or 3%.