Comment on Why don't electric car manufacurers put solar panels on the car roofs?
hungover_pilot@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Aptera is doing this with custom solar cells and they claim it’ll provide up to 40 miles of range per day. aptera.us
Because the aptera is ridiculously efficient and they cover way more than just the roof with the panels. I love the car, but it ain’t something I would consider mass market.
Plus, this again assumes you park it in ideal sun conditions, sun directly overhead (for the panel inclination), no shade anywhere around etc. Famous “up to” values.
I’ve been following them for a while now and hope they can make it into production. Their focus on efficiency and repairability is quite exciting!
DaddleDew@lemmy.world 5 months ago
I was about to say that. The main reason why they can do it is that Aptera went great lengths to make their vehicle as light and efficient as possible so what little charge they get out of the panels will make a noticeable difference.
This is a stark contrast with the other EVs on the market that are just huge heavy bricks on wheels that compensate for their inefficiency with bigger and heavier batteries.
Bytemeister@lemmy.world 5 months ago
To put this in perspective… The Aptera claims it with charge at 13mph on level 1 charging. This means if you plug it in the a regular wall socket, you’ll get 13 miles of range per hour.
The full solar package(~2000 dollar add on) get 40 miles of range, per day, under ideal sunlight exposure. That’s roughly a little under 4mph of charging. With a purpose built solar setup, which covers the rear window and even puts solar panels on the dashboard.
The Tesla model 3 gets something like 4-5mph charging on level 1. The full solar package from Aptera might be able to add about 8-10 miles per day in ideal conditions.