Electric Car With Solar Panels On Roof

The korean car maker said up to 60 of the power for the car s battery could be supplied if the solar roof was used for six hours a day.

Electric car with solar panels on roof. There s a german startup called sono motors that wants to build cars with solar panels. The sonata hybrid s electric driving range can be ever so slightly extended by the available solar panel roof which hyundai says can add roughly two miles of range per day provided it is exposed. Hyundai has produced an electric sonata with a solar panel on the roof. With an 800 plus billion electric vehicle market looming over the horizon by 2027 the idea of charging your zero emission car on the go with a solar rooftop is trotting along not far behind.

Solar panels work by converting energy from the sun into electric power. The main speed bump has been that the solar panels sized for the top of a car would not be sufficiently powerful efficient or large enough to actually power the vehicle. Modern solar panels are very efficient with many capable of turning more than 60 percent of the sun s power into electricity. The panels would provide enough power to propel the sonata.

A lot of people think that s a natural win but in fact it s probably the opposite of the green thing to do with a panel. Fisker debuts 37 500 electric suv with a solar roof. Our sister title auto express visited one electric car owner warren philips of shoreham on sea who uses solar panels to charge his renault zoe. Solar panels are a cost effective way to fuel your electric car and may require anywhere from 6 to 12 solar panels.

On a sunny day the panels on his roof can generate upwards of 40kwh of electricity enough to charge the 40kwh battery in his car. Why solar panels on the roof of an electric car may not be pie in the sky engineers have actually been working on this challenge for a number of years. Toyota last year announced that upcoming prius hybrid cars would come with panasonic solar roofs paywall. The following guide explores some of the main reasons that electric vehicles don t have solar panels on the roof.