Can Solar Panels Power Cars?

Enthusiasts and automakers alike add solar panels to help power vehicles. Learn the history and potential future in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-efficiency/vehicles/solar-cars.htm

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey
brain Stuff, Lauren vocal bomb. Here. There may be no
such thing as a free lunch, but what about a
free ride. I think of how awesome it would be
if your car could keep running without you spending a
dime on fuel. If you drove a solar powered car,
that dream could be a lot closer to reality. Much

(00:25):
like solar powered homes, solar cars harness energy from the sun,
then converted into electricity. That electricity then fuels the car's
power train, which is similar to the combination of an
electric motor and battery based energy storage that drives modern
hybrid cars. Solar cars can accomplish this through photovoltaic cells.

(00:46):
These are the components in solar paneling that convert the
sun's energy to electricity. They're made up of semiconductors usually
made of silicon, that absorbed light. The sunlight's energy then
freeze electrons in the semiconductors, creating a flow of electrons.
That flow generates the electricity that powers the battery or
the specialized motor in solar cars. The earliest solar cars

(01:09):
were d I y jobs of the nineteen seventies, mostly
designed and dissembled in car enthusiasts garages. Several organizations also
experimented with race cars designed to take advantage of solar power.
The World Solar Challenge began in nineteen three and races
about three thousand kilometers or miles across Australia every two years.

(01:32):
The American Solar Challenge started in nineteen nine and follows
a route across North America that changes almost every year.
These helped engineers understand the potential and the limitations of
collecting and storing solar energy, maximizing aerodynamics, and identifying other
challenges to running a car powered off of the sun.

(01:54):
As for major auto manufacturers contributions to the field, Ford
and Mazda notably both introduced solar hybrid concept cars in
the mid two thousands, and Catillac designed a concept car
that used solar panels to help power accessories like interior
lighting and audio, which typically draw off of a car's
electrical system and thus in turn contribute to fuel consumption.

(02:17):
And none of these concept cars made it to production,
which means they were never available to consumers, and after that,
investment in solar car technology more or less when dark,
at least as a mainstream pursuit. But in the meanwhile,
many automakers have shifted development resources toward making hybrid and
plug in hybrid cars more practical, efficient, and affordable than ever.

(02:41):
So is it time to give solar cars another shot?
The new generation solar cars that are on the horizon
are more like hybrids that add solar power to the mix.
It's now less about making these solar panels themselves better
and more about the fact that hybrid and electric cars
and their infrastructure is better. In other words, it's easier

(03:04):
and more affordable than ever for consumers to go buy
an electric or hybrid car, and these cars are more efficient,
easier to charge, and have fewer compromises overall than e
vs and hybrids of just a few years ago. That
means there are more people who could potentially take advantage
of solar power to run a car, and that solar
power will literally go farther than it would have in

(03:26):
the past. And that said, solar panel technology has improved too.
It's more affordable and easier for most consumers to incorporate
into a home update. But solar powered cars still have
a long way to go. It's unlikely that we'll see
a car that can be fully powered by a solar
panel that's been integrated into the roof, because a panel

(03:48):
that size is just too small to produce the power
needed for a car. Energy Stage, a company that helps
consumers research and shot for solar technology, estimates that a
car completely covered in solar panels, not just the roof,
could only power an electric car for a maximum of
twenty five miles or forts a day, and that's assuming
weather and other conditions are absolutely perfect. Yet, Energy Stage

(04:12):
argues that a solar panel that gives a car a
boost of just a few miles a day would still
be worth the investment, and several automakers are investing in
the technology. High tech company light Year released two light
Year research vehicles to test its integrated solar technology on
the road in June. Of The company says it's preparing

(04:32):
to begin production on an exclusive series of cars equipped
with its solar technology by the end of one for
delivery in two Toyota is testing a version of the
Prius with an integrated solar roof in Japan. This demo version,
which is not for sale, can charge the car while
it's being driven. It's earlier version could only charge while parked.

(04:55):
Sonata Hybrid, however, is available to American consumers and comes
with a solar roof panel that recharges the car's batteries.
The roof panel generates enough electric power to increase the
car's driving range by about two miles or three kilometers
a day, and the Testlas cyber truck, which was unveiled
in November of twenty nineteen but isn't expected to be

(05:16):
released until two has an option for solar panels, even
though CEO Elon Musk has previously said that solar panels
on cars are too inefficient, and that brings us to
the question of whether or not the extra cost of
adding solar panels to a car is worth it. For example,
cars in sunnier locations and cars that are parked outside

(05:38):
rather than in a garage will generate more solar power
and offer more of a financial benefit to owners, but
it still remains to be seen whether the financial costs
to automakers will be beneficial enough to produce them. Meanwhile,
there are d I Y solar panel kits available that
are designed to contribute to powering the battery of an

(05:59):
electric or plug in hybrid car via the homes charging system.
Similar aftermarket kits are offered and marketed as ways to
help power r vs or trailers. They can also be
used to collect and store energy for camping accessories such
as tents or cooking setups like those designed to mount
in the bed of a pickup truck. Today's episode is

(06:22):
based on the article Solar panels are Slowly making their
Way on Cars on house toff works dot com, written
by Kristen Conger and Sres three Wi. Brain Stuff is
production of I Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff
works dot Com, and it's produced by Tyler Clang. For
more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app,
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