Impressive work by the students IMO, a 1200kg EV campervan that achieves a realistic range extension with its solar power roof. Great to see that this is even possible with current solar tech though - I wonder what something like this would look like in the future with more efficient panels.
Let’s say this matures, what would be the stand out differences between something like this, and a normal combustion vehicle? The main advantages the combustion has would be really good fuel density (longer range) and no waiting on the batteries to recharge, however the solar vehicle is much more lightweight (harder to get stuck, as mentioned in the article) and requires almost no maintenance… maybe just dusting off the panels after driving through a sandy region
ICE cars can go as far as their gas tank allows. Putting a bigger tank means more range, which is an entirely separate problem/solution than the range on an EV. Adding more batteries means more weight and less effective range which is why they have to balance the two and why companies are trying to find new battery chemistries that can hold more energy for the same or less weight.
I mean, yes, aftermarket third party modifications exist, but IDK how many people get new tanks.
You realize that people have to pay for gas, right? And there are design considerations, as well. There are downsides to having a eighty gallon tank. (being facetious but a tricked out 2021 F150 would need a 32 gallon tank to go farther than this thing)
My petrol car would get very close to that on a full tank to be fair and it’s got a 45L petrol tank, you could definitely get over that with a bigger tank in it.
Impressive work by the students IMO, a 1200kg EV campervan that achieves a realistic range extension with its solar power roof. Great to see that this is even possible with current solar tech though - I wonder what something like this would look like in the future with more efficient panels.
Let’s say this matures, what would be the stand out differences between something like this, and a normal combustion vehicle? The main advantages the combustion has would be really good fuel density (longer range) and no waiting on the batteries to recharge, however the solar vehicle is much more lightweight (harder to get stuck, as mentioned in the article) and requires almost no maintenance… maybe just dusting off the panels after driving through a sandy region
This supposedly gets 441 miles on a sunny day. There aren’t many (any?) ICE cars that get more than that.
ICE cars can go as far as their gas tank allows. Putting a bigger tank means more range, which is an entirely separate problem/solution than the range on an EV. Adding more batteries means more weight and less effective range which is why they have to balance the two and why companies are trying to find new battery chemistries that can hold more energy for the same or less weight.
I mean, yes, aftermarket third party modifications exist, but IDK how many people get new tanks.
You realize that people have to pay for gas, right? And there are design considerations, as well. There are downsides to having a eighty gallon tank. (being facetious but a tricked out 2021 F150 would need a 32 gallon tank to go farther than this thing)
My petrol car would get very close to that on a full tank to be fair and it’s got a 45L petrol tank, you could definitely get over that with a bigger tank in it.
I can only find hybrids that have more. Didn’t try that hard to look
I believe they were comparing the weight to a conventional electric vehicle, not an internal combustion engine.
Did you see the pictures? It’s like the size of a sedan. Campervan seems a stretch.