Comments on: Solar Panel Car Cover For Your Electric Car?

By: DeanIverson

DeanIverson — Mon, 26 Aug 2013 08:51:00 +0000

hmm, I have been wondering for a while now why isn’t the entire body constructed with solar cells covering it?

the entire body is a solar panel, you know space age technology like the Jetsons have..

maybe a little antenna with a ball at the end would look keen as well, I think the idea of a panel is awkward, just do it right and make the entire body one big solar panel, maybe composite and aluminum sub panels to shed weight?

think outside the box…????

man, do I have to do everything?

By: alebert croft

alebert croft — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 12:49:00 +0000

Its Totally strong and upgraded ..

By: SpiffySolarDotCom

SpiffySolarDotCom — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 14:44:00 +0000

A basic tenant of good design (for the last 100 years or so) is the idea that form follows function. “Pretty, interesting, fun, artistic” is surface. The beauty is in the whole package and the thinking behind it. Take the solar off and you’ve got a really nice car cover concept—that’s an idea I could buy into. Solar shouldn’t and doesn’t have to be in the equation. Don’t try to do too much (another tenant of design). Car cover is done, now do a carport, and keep the manufacturing, materials, cost (form and function) in mind.

By: San Diego Loves Green – Solar panel Cover for Electric Car (video)

San Diego Loves Green – Solar panel Cover for Electric Car (video) — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 12:07:46 +0000

[…] (The following article was written by Zachary Stahan and published on Clean Technica February 26, 2013) […]

By: Chris Gold

Chris Gold — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 19:27:00 +0000

I think this is actually pretty cool! I just recently bought a car cover from http://www.carcoveroutlet.com/, and i totally love it!

By: agelbert

agelbert — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 01:03:00 +0000

Buildings maybe, but not cars. Just the insurance (cars have accidents) to replace the PV body parts would be very high. Also, people are not going to be pleased to lose car color selection to PV covered surfaces.

By: agelbert

agelbert — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 00:58:00 +0000

Ditto. In regard to roofs, if that new cone PV technology matures to a large cone (for a round house), it would solve the problem of getting enough kw for small home. At present the roof area to living space is insufficient to provide the load an average home requires. In addition, the pointed type roof most homes have means half the roof (in a north south arrangement) is unusable for PV unless some expensive reflection material was set up north of the home. Just thinking out loud.

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 00:24:00 +0000

I just mean compared to conventional PV systems.

By: Zer0Sum

Zer0Sum — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 00:18:00 +0000

if by too expensive you mean that it requires too much energy to produce the products compared to the energy that they provide then you might be correct. That requires higher efficiencies than the current 10 – 15% or lower that BIPV’s are capable of achieving.

Mulijunction, printable/paintable BIPV’s will make a big difference once they get efficiencies over 50% which is where the highest end multijunction cells are these days.

Combined with nano tech like antennas and 3d solar and it should only be a few more years before they figure out on a technical level the correct combinations for maximum efficiency. That’s of course if they haven’t already and are just holding back to pay for the RnD costs of existing solutions that have already made it to market.

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 23:18:00 +0000

Not so sure about that. BIPV is still much more expensive than stand-alone PV. Maybe down the road it will be competitive, but no time soon.

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 23:17:00 +0000

Agreed. That’s my main complaint. Why waste the technology?

By: beernotwar

beernotwar — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 18:31:00 +0000

No kidding. Every time I watch the animation I want to scream “Ok now stop there!” when the solar canopy is fully extended to the flat, horizontal position.

By: Matthew Todd Peffly

Matthew Todd Peffly — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 00:27:00 +0000

A solution looking for a problem. I bet it was a design project where you had to “solve” at least two problems.

By: SpiffySolarDotCom

SpiffySolarDotCom — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 23:44:00 +0000

Agreed, what’s wrong with a carport? “Weird solution?” I can’t figure out what they think the problem is.

By: SpiffySolarDotCom

SpiffySolarDotCom — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 23:28:00 +0000

What problem do they think they are solving? Whoever came up with this is more concerned with covering the car than with actually going anywhere in it. They also know nothing of the basics of solar cell technology. The output will be limited to the level of the cells that are in shade, or at the least optimal angle to the sun (a whole lot of them). In other words, they’ll be getting the minimum possible efficiency. I’d like to know, what’s wrong with carport or canopy?

By: SecularAnimist

SecularAnimist — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 22:40:00 +0000

Eventually the entire surface of electric cars, including the windows, will be photovoltaic. In the not too distant future, the term “solar panels” will be obsolete — we will talk about photovoltaic MATERIALS and photovoltaic SURFACES. PV will be fully integrated into everything from buildings to cars to clothing.

By: globi

globi — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 19:18:00 +0000

Also, having movable parts makes it less durable.
Not to mention that it would scratch ones roof, if the roof had sand on it.

By: Runar Botnen Totland

Runar Botnen Totland — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 18:41:00 +0000

Weird solution. Would be a lot better to have the solar panels up as a roof, for optimum exposure to the sun all day long. This would generate more electricity and be less harsh for the paint on the car.

I can see nothing in this design which is better in any way, that a regular roof with solar panels.

Agree 100% with Hans

By: Joe Murtaugh

Joe Murtaugh — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 17:26:00 +0000

What about painting the car with solar cells?

By: Hans

Hans — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 15:31:00 +0000

What I understand from other sources is that the canopy folds awy if it is not covering a car. A bit of a waste of resources! A fixed solar cell roof can feed into the grid or load a battery when no car is there.