Electric vehicles are here to stay, but charging times and range are still major turnoffs for many buyers. So why not just slap solar panels on the car and drive indefinitely with zero fuel cost? A handful of solar cars are available for pre-order now, but how realistic is the tech? Can solar power provide enough power to extend range and cut charging time?

#planeta #solar #electricvehicles

We're destroying our environment at an alarming rate. But it doesn't need to be this way. Our new channel Planet A explores the shift towards an eco-friendly world — and challenges our ideas about what dealing with climate change means. We look at the big and the small: What we can do and how the system needs to change. Every Friday we'll take a truly global look at how to get us out of this mess.

Credits:
Reporter: Kai Steinecke
Camera: Henning Goll
Editor: Frederik Willmann
Supervising Editors: Kiyo Dörrer, Michael Trobridge

Inteviewees:
Enno Dülberg, founding member of Team Sonnenwagen
Lex Hoefsloot, Co-Founder of Lightyear
Erik Johansson, Solar Cell Researcher

Additional thanks to:
Martin Heinrich (Fraunhofer ISE),
Xin-Yu Chin (CSEM)
Maximilian Hofbeck (Webasto)

Read more:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science...
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/14/...
https://www.researchgate.net/publicat...
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science...

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:35 Solar car concept
3:53 Solar cells in cars
6:30 Actual energy output
9:44 Other use cases
11:08 Conclusion