Solar panels on EV cars
- Thread starter CanAmAndMore
- Start date
What do those cost per Watt? 3-4 kwh per day adds up or atleast keeps you from needing to have it plugged into 110v all the time to keep the battery up.
JHZR2
Staff member
Of course you’re in a lot less optimal location than even I am.
It might buy 7 miles for our friends in FL and TX.
Does that figure in the compressor running to cool the batteries due to the high temps there?
I've caught my Chevy Volt running the compressor while plugged in, long after charging has completed, probably due to high temps in my garage.
That's one reason I've started using delayed charging to charge it after midnight, when the temps are lower.
Solar-roof Prii used brushless fan motors.
Here they're pushing for everything electric so we'd have to give up the propane, and firewood. Maybe you can buy a windmill if they were to successfully push the same nonsense on you.
There isn't a cabin or house on the lake without propane.
Every 2nd month a propane drives around and tops up everyone. I tell them to skip my place all winter, because I don't even dig my tank out, and use the cabin very little so would never run out anyway.
My last bill was mailed to me for my last propane top off, and it was only $38.14
IIRC there was a high trim level Prius or Prius V some time ago with a solar roof. I discussed this with a dealer at the time, who indicated that it could tun the cabin ventilation system but wasn't intened to charge the drive battery.
I think the idea to have it ventilate the cabin in high temps would be more advantageous than trying to add charge to the HV pack. Maybe trickle charge the 12V as well when the cabin fan is not in use to cover parasitic losses.
Reason I say vent the cabin is my ID.4 A/C compressor shoots upwards/northwards of 5000 watts consumption after the car has been sitting in the sun baking for awhile - that is even after opening all the windows before start to let the heat out. It does rollback eventually but it can really suck down the juice for the first 10-15 minutes while its trying to cool everything off.
Reason I say vent the cabin is my ID.4 A/C compressor shoots upwards/northwards of 5000 watts consumption after the car has been sitting in the sun baking for awhile - that is even after opening all the windows before start to let the heat out. It does rollback eventually but it can really suck down the juice for the first 10-15 minutes while its trying to cool everything off.
It makes a BIG difference in the temperature and comfort of the cabin, even if just 30-45 minutes while having a meal or whatever, at least in Houston when it's upper 90's with humidity not too far behind. I don't think it charged the 12V when not ventilating the cabin but don't see why it couldn't or shouldn't. I'd buy it as an option for my non-EV vehicle(s) too for the added comfort.
also nissan leaf has tiny panel to cool interior.
I see them selling for less than $2 per watt. Not cheap, but not "over the top" either for some real world testing. They are about 16% efficient.
In real world terms, one would have to install 1200-1400W worth of cells to get 1KW out of 'em. It is likely to be just barely possible if every horiz surface is covered, without regard to seams and openings.
Parking in the open, one could expect about 4.5-4.7KWh on average per day, annualized, here in S. Florida.
One benefit may be to keep daily battery losses at bay. Tesla says battery losses are 1% per day, but owners say it is much less. Turning off some features such as automatic updates, may help.
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Seems like it would worth doing for a lot of areas, especially one with higher electricity costs.
So, with 1% battery loss per day, and a 4.5% charge in the sun. One could reasonably expect 3.5% worth of charge, or about 9 miles of range.
Better than a kick in the pants.... That would be like adding around a liter of gas per day into my car, or about 10-15% of my usage.
Solar works a lot better with an Aptera type vehicle with the same solar panel area but around 2/3 the energy consumption per mile.
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OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
I did the math earlier, but I'd expect CF to be less than 10%, which is what rooftop gets here in Ontario, average, over the course of the year. I used 5% earlier, but it could be a bit better than that, like say 8%. If you somehow managed to get 1,400W worth of panels on the vehicle, you'd produce somewhere between 1.68kWh and 2.69kWh. 1% discharge we'll say is 0.9kWh.
If we are just talking the roof, you might be able to get 300W on there, which is 360-580Wh, so wouldn't offset the self-discharge rate if it is truly 1%.
