It seems like even a small solar panel on the roof of an electric car would make a lot of sense. When you’re sitting at work for 8 hours, your car can just soak up some sun. I’m assuming there is some sort of problem related to cost, rather than efficiency, but I can’t figure it out.
Edit: Thanks for the help. It makes a lot of sense now. I appreciate the in-depth answers too.
In: Engineering
Solar panels require a lot of space, more than you get on a car, to provide the amount of power required for a car.
There are actually some cars powered just by on-board solar panels, but they’re basically just engineering exercises; they run on bicycle wheels and have ultra-aerodynamic bodies and only hold one person practically lying down to keep the roofline that much lower.
Edit: Just to bring some math into this, a normal car cruising at highway speed uses about 15 kilowatts of power, which on a really good sunny day would take four or five cars’ worth of solar panels to generate.
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