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Comment by reactordev

10 hours ago

Because they want to sell you the cheapest car possible for the most money possible, sell you a home charging unit, sell you solar shingles, sell you a new power plant for your home to go with those shingles. They are not in the business of making their cars efficient, only making the cash flow efficient.

4 comments

reactordev

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victorbjorklund  9 hours ago

What stops you from slapping a solar panel on the roof if it is the most efficient way to charge an EV?

  • reactordev  9 hours ago

    the fact that many new electric cars do have solar panels, I fail to see your reasoning. A solar panel isn't going to provide you with enough energy to drive. Merely enough energy to trickle charge your batteries.

    Now, should you run out of charge during your drive, you simply have to wait a while and you'll have enough to get you to a charging station. Or you can walk, taxi there. On an ocean or channel crossing, you don't have that luxury and must rely on other ships if you run out of charge. The point I'm making is that any electric vehicle should incorporate solar panels into the design to minimize it's dependence entirely on the batteries and can extend it's time doing what it's designed to do.

    As solar panels advance and the wattage increases, this will be more and more important as it will open up new avenues for transportation. Like the solar LSA plane "Solar Impulse" that can fly indefinitely.

    • SideburnsOfDoom  7 hours ago

      > the fact that many new electric cars do have solar panels

      Not true. Not many at all, in fact vanishingly few. I don't know of any EV currently on sale where it is standard. Because it's not practical. See comment above.

      > Now, should you run out of charge during your drive, you simply have to wait a while and you'll have enough to get you to a charging station

      Or not, as it adds a few miles of range per day of charging. You're far better off using the V2L capability of another EV to bring the charge to you.

      > As solar panels advance and the wattage increases, this will be more and more important

      No, it won't. Even at perfect panel efficiency , there just isn't enough room on a car roof to charge a car in reasonable time. Solar panel improvements won't do it.

      https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46455027

      > Like the solar LSA plane "Solar Impulse" that can fly indefinitely.

      You can already drive an EV indefinitely, by mounting a much larger surface area of solar panels on your house, and charging your car from that regularly, with or without an intermediate battery that allows you to charge the car overnight. This is proven and practical, unlike solar panels on the car. For solar panels on a car, the math is that it just never will be practical.

      The math: https://youtu.be/7L1_zvqg73Q?t=590