Quote:
Originally Posted by poetrychic
i had an idea once for a car to run on solar power...like the hood of the car would be a solar panel and as it sits in the sun it would power up, of course while you were driving and the sun were shining you would have unlimited power...someone told me it wouldn't work because it would take too many batteries to store the energy for a rainy/cloudy day and there wouldn't be enough room for the engine...but i still don't see how it wouldn't work on some level 
anyone have any thoughts? |
About 10 years ago or so I believe SAAB had a car that had a solar panel on the roof that ran an electric fan to keep the car cooler while you were were parked.
There's no reason you couldn't have such a setup in an electric car (which used batteries) or a plug in hybrid, although it would add to the cost. The cells wouldn't be nearly large enough to run the car in real time, but they could recharge the batteries while you were parked. Commute to work, the car sits in the sun for 8 or 9 hours and that recharges them for your ride home. You might still have to plug in for longer trips and overnight.