Quote:
Originally Posted by All Darc
What about solar photovoltais area in the upper surface, compared to two kinds aerodynamic values ?
I was wondering if, for example, a 0,05 drag with low area for solar cells, could be worse than a 0,1 or 0,12 drag vehicle with a huge area for solar cells.
I will make a drawing about a solar "Morelli" or "solar Aptera" I imagined.
|
You would need to use a computer model to calculate the projected power increase vs the projected aerodynamic penalty, or create a scale model and test. Many variables involved.
My sense is that solar is useless on a vehicle. Under ideal conditions (pointed directly at sun and no clouds), there is 1kW of sun energy available for every 1m^2. You might get 25% of that in electricity, so 250 watts. That's roughly 1/3 of a horsepower (746 watts) for every square meter of direct sunlight.
The added weight, cost, and aerodynamic penalty for using solar cannot be offset by the meager output.