TomT said:
There is simply not enough surface area on a vehicle to produce any significant amount of energy.
That's true, but they aren't limiting themselves to the area of the car. They are using a free standing structure you park the car under. They also say the car is being moved by whatever surface it parked on so
1. you can't just park anywhere you have to park in a special solar concentrator spot
2. they have to spend some amount of energy moving the car under the concentrator
3. If you aren't parked in a concentrator spot but are still getting sun you get 1/8th the charging rate because you no longer have a concentrator overhead.
No free lunch and it seems it'd be harder to put these solar concentrator spaces in a parking lot than it would to just put in a Tesla style supercharger or even a J1772 charger.
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edit they are claiming a full day of charging will get 8kw and let the car drive 21 miles, If you don't sit under the special canopy you'll get 1kw and be able to drive about 2.5 miles a day on the solar energy the panels give under what I assume must be ideal conditions.
So they intend for this car to be a competitor to the Chevy Volt. Gas engine plus batteries, just with the addition of a few more solar cells. Not much of a game changer, just enough solar to say they put solar on it.
"Ford C-MAX Solar Energi Concept is estimated to have the same total range as a conventional C-MAX Energi of up to 620 miles, including up to 21 electric-only miles. ... Additionally, the vehicle still has a charge port, and can be charged by connecting to a charging station via cord and plug so that drivers retain the option to power up via the grid, if desired." from http://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2014/01/02/let-the-sun-in--ford-c-max-solar-energi-concept-goes-off-the-gri.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I suppose if they can add 3 solar panels to the roof cheap enough it'd be like free fuel for the life of the car. The question is how many years down the road will 3 panels like that on the roof be a nearly no cost item. If I get 500 miles a year of free driving from those panels and keep the car for 5 years and say that the free fuel is worth 5 cents a mile then the panels are almost worth paying $100 extra.
If they can somehow put a canopy with Fresnel lenses at my home and work so that I can always park under one then I guess it'd be worth more like $500 but I'm guessing the canopys with lenses will cost more than that to install even if the solar panels were less than $100.