Read this this morning:
http://www.bbc.com/autos/story/20150515-where-is-my-solar-car
Most people, when they think about a solar car, think of this:
As they should. In this case, a solar car is a vehicle for one person, largely made out of balsa wood, sitting on three bicycle wheels, and really just a platform for holding solar cells. There are usually not any batteries, so this can only run while the sun is shining (rather brightly, I might add). The range of such a vehicle, while technically unlimited, is really only as far as you can drive whilst the sun is shining. And given a top speed of around 60 mph (that's the record speed - your actual speed may vary), and assuming that you could only drive for the brightest 4-6 hours per day, you're looking at three or four hundred miles. Of course, if the sun's not shining, you're not going anywhere. Batteries are available, which add weight, but also overcome the problem of range and bad weather.
Safety is also a concern, but should it be? As cars have become better engineered, we've come to expect a relatively heavy, typically monocoque design. We wrap ourselves in a steel cage to protect us from the unforeseen. This increases mass, which also has an attendant decrease in efficiency. If one were to assume a 200 pound human (just using round numbers), and a typical car weight of two tons, the ratio is 1:20 - one passenger pound carried around by 20 vehicle pounds. A recent solar car weighed in at 120 kg (about 250 pounds) for an almost 1:1 ratio. That's without batteries, of course. It's just astonishing. And since we know that force = mass * acceleration, a huge decrease in mass correlates to a similar and proportionate decrease in force. In other words, if you make cars lighter the force available for damaging the occupants of the car decreases, meaning less required safety measures.
Of course, there's no where to store your groceries. There's no headlights, no turn signals, no air conditioning, and no actual suspension (read: rough ride). So all of that is going to have to be sorted.
But, just look at the thing:
Yeah, I'd drive that. Just imagine the absolute silence of it all...
There are other fun solar powered vehicles... A solar powered boat:
A solar powered plane:
(which I just think is fun)
And of course there's this:
Solar power is free. It's just there, basically all the time, waiting for someone to pick it up. As PV panels get cheaper, I think we'll see a lot more of this in the future. And I can't wait.
http://www.bbc.com/autos/story/20150515-where-is-my-solar-car
Most people, when they think about a solar car, think of this:
As they should. In this case, a solar car is a vehicle for one person, largely made out of balsa wood, sitting on three bicycle wheels, and really just a platform for holding solar cells. There are usually not any batteries, so this can only run while the sun is shining (rather brightly, I might add). The range of such a vehicle, while technically unlimited, is really only as far as you can drive whilst the sun is shining. And given a top speed of around 60 mph (that's the record speed - your actual speed may vary), and assuming that you could only drive for the brightest 4-6 hours per day, you're looking at three or four hundred miles. Of course, if the sun's not shining, you're not going anywhere. Batteries are available, which add weight, but also overcome the problem of range and bad weather.
Safety is also a concern, but should it be? As cars have become better engineered, we've come to expect a relatively heavy, typically monocoque design. We wrap ourselves in a steel cage to protect us from the unforeseen. This increases mass, which also has an attendant decrease in efficiency. If one were to assume a 200 pound human (just using round numbers), and a typical car weight of two tons, the ratio is 1:20 - one passenger pound carried around by 20 vehicle pounds. A recent solar car weighed in at 120 kg (about 250 pounds) for an almost 1:1 ratio. That's without batteries, of course. It's just astonishing. And since we know that force = mass * acceleration, a huge decrease in mass correlates to a similar and proportionate decrease in force. In other words, if you make cars lighter the force available for damaging the occupants of the car decreases, meaning less required safety measures.
Of course, there's no where to store your groceries. There's no headlights, no turn signals, no air conditioning, and no actual suspension (read: rough ride). So all of that is going to have to be sorted.
But, just look at the thing:
Yeah, I'd drive that. Just imagine the absolute silence of it all...
There are other fun solar powered vehicles... A solar powered boat:
A solar powered plane:
(which I just think is fun)
And of course there's this:
Solar power is free. It's just there, basically all the time, waiting for someone to pick it up. As PV panels get cheaper, I think we'll see a lot more of this in the future. And I can't wait.
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