- Solar cars sound obvious, but the reality of making a production car with a meaningful amount of range added via solar is tough.
- Still, if you build a purpose-built solar car, you can get nearly infinite range.
- This home build from Drew Builds Stuff highlights how cool the concept is, and also why it's a near-impossible goal for a normal car.
It's an obvious question. Why can't we build EVs that get their power from solar panels, reducing or eliminating the need to stop and charge? I've heard it asked by 12-year-olds and 60-year-olds alike. This new video from Drew Builds Stuff highlights the answer: We can, but we probably won't be able to do it practically.
The reasoning behind the question makes sense. Solar power can cover an entire home's electric needs with a pretty reasonable amount of panels. EVs are extremely efficient. Surely they don't require more than a home, right?
Not quite. The average home in America uses 30-33 kWh of energy per day. A decent, modern EV gets about 3 miles per kWh. So yes, when the average American drives 39.7 miles per day, they're only using about 13.2 kWh in an average EV. But given that driving likely fits in a 1-2 hour period, the rate of consumption is far higher for a car than a home. And cars have far less space to mount panels, meaning a modern solar panel could never keep up with the power needs of, say, a Tesla Model 3, even in sunlight. That's why production car solar panels have been used for things like cooling the cabin of the Prius Prime, rather than charging the battery.
Drew Builds Stuff shows that it is possible, however, to drive for hours in a solar-powered EV with minimal battery usage. He drove 155 miles in his solar-powered car, using a battery that—without solar assistance—is only good for 35-45 miles in the same vehicle. If he hadn't stopped so often to film during the brightest hours of the day, Drew says he's confident he could get it above 300 miles, and the range is theoretically infinite.
Yet looking at the car and the test, it's clear why infinite range powered by the sun is still a far-off dream for road-tripping production cars. The solar car is as bare-bones as can be, with a tube frame chassis, panels on almost every inch, a single seat, no occupant protection and a trailer full of extra panels. He was also driving slowly around rural farm roads at low speeds. Ratchet things up to 70 mph, put a real cabin and crash structure around him, add air conditioning and drop the trailer—that's what we'd demand of a production car, and it's why this concept of a solar-charged car has never looked practical.
But it does look cool. It's an incredible project, and clearly a labor of love. I highly recommend watching the whole video. While solar cars may not be for the masses, watching someone build one is a joy, and a reminder that the EV era is about trying to make new things possible.
