Adding Solar Panels To Electric Vehicle

Over the last few years rumors of kits to add solar panels to power your ev have come and gone.

Adding solar panels to electric vehicle.

But early analyses in california indicated as many as four in 10 electric car drivers were already using or considering the addition of home solar panels to generate electricity. Some vehicles such as a high end version of the nissan leaf have used solar panels on top of the car to power certain functions such as the computer system. There are complications to overcome. Solar panels are a cost effective way to fuel your electric car and may require anywhere from 6 to 12 solar panels.

To efficiently charge an electric vehicle using solar panels you will also have to install a home charging unit and a pv inverter unit that converts the solar energy into dc current for the vehicle. An early prius with a solar panel only used it to power a fan to keep the car cool on hot days. The cost of solar is falling rapidly and companies from tesla to nissan are manufacturing electric cars for your daily use. First there were solar electric vehicles which nrel even used for their ev test car.

5 minutes solar panels and electric cars are a match made in heaven when you install a solar energy system on your home you can use it to both power your home and charge your electric car for emissions free transportation. Generally it s almost impossible to add any meaningful power to an electric vehicle using solar since there s not enough surface to install solar cells in order to supply the power needed to. Even if you plan on buying an electric car two or three years down the road you will want to plan your solar project with that taken into account because it can have impacts on the type of inverter and number of panels you will need. 5 minutes if you ve gone solar you ve already decreased or possibly eliminated your electricity bill.

At 3 500 for a 215 watt system you can probably do the math based on our calculations above for the prius it s likely not cost effective. 808 miles of electricity at home prices is worth about 22 or 6 cents day. But you may want to add more solar panels to your existing system. But if ford can find a way to commercialize this solar c max energi it would be the first ev to actually move from its own internal solar power system.

By charging your car from your own solar pv system integrated into your home you can save even more money on your driving costs whilst further reducing your carbon footprint by using your own produced 100 green solar energy. There are several of these systems available for purchase already but no dedicated standalone solar panel car charger is available yet.