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Old 05-15-2022, 12:59 PM   #472 (permalink)
oil pan 4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by oil pan 4 View Post
At least I'm intelligent enough to give a reason why it's stupid.
I'll give more reasons why putting solar panels on a car is totally idiotic, wasteful and not the least bit good or helpful to the environment.
I will channel my inner aerohead for this.
1 solar panels develop lower voltages, stepping up tens of volts to the hundreds of volts required to charge a EV battery will create huge losses.
2 any attempts to use more smaller cells in series to get a higher voltage means more connections, a more fragile setup easier to break, impossible to repair, even more expensive.
3 any attempts to make the panels bigger means not all of the cells will get sun, one blocked cell can cut panel power output in half.
4 anyone who lives in a sunny area where solar panels would be most effective is trying to park in the shade, such as my self. Hmm would I rather get in a 100'F car or a 170'F car?
5 easily damaged by hail and non repairable, just take the whole roof panel, hood, trunk lid what ever is covered with solar cells, chuck it in the trash and replace with a new one.
6, waste of resources, will cost thousands of dollars, maybe generate hundreds of dollars worth of power in its life time.
Waste of valuable resource, solar panels laying flat like in a car roof will run at about 2/3 of peak power compared to being angled towards the sun.
7, stupid wasteful application. The average vehicle in the US lasts 11 years, a typical roof top solar panel will last 25 to 30 years. Only an idiot would use a solar panel for half it's life then crush it and throw it away.
8 only people from new England or the Pacific nw who barely see the sun will think this is a good idea as they have no clue what high production solar intensity looks like.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Isaac Zachary View Post
1 applies to all solar panels,
2 applies to all solar panels,
3 makes no sense,
4 doesn't take into account that 1 a lot of people have to park in the sun anyway daily and 2 that there are places that are sunny and cold,
5 applies to all solar panels unless it's a diy panel that you can desolder the PV cells and replace,
6 and 7, applying this reasoning you might as well as not own any vehicle that "costs thousands of dollars" or anything you won't use to it's fullest potential.
8 is prejudice and a stereotype.
1, yes, so you agree why low voltage solar panels are a bad match for high voltage battery bank?
When looking at high efficiency battery chargers they typically use input voltage of around 70% to 200% of normal pack voltage.
2 yes you agree that there is a practice size limit to cells. I figured that's why the industry standardized on cell sizes at least 25 years sgo.
3 I will further explain. As a normal solar panel gets bigger it's not a problem until it gets so big installers have trouble handing them or shippers can't move them. As you make a panel bigger on a car the panel will start to conform and go around vehicle body curves, not good for a panel.
4 The only place I have been to that's sunny and cold is here, in new Mexico. Sunny and cold appears to be the exception, not the rule. Me personally I park my car so the sun comes in at that low winter angle through the windscreen to melt ice and warm the car some. My roof top solar is almost useless in the winter, making about 1/4 the power of summer, I doubt laid nearly flat solar panels on a car a car would do any better. Also I use more power in the winter, about 25% more power and I get my heat from diesel fuel. In a cool climate your EV power consumption my double due to running the heater. Owners will have to plug in in the winter if they drive the car. That's all there is to it.
5 I tried making a diy panel a long time ago that was serviceable, it worked alright but was not all weather, not practical at all.
6, I have never bought a vehicle that took more than 1 payment to own.
8, I haven't seen anyone from a high sun place shilling for the apthera, to just leave it in the sun and charge.
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