Leaf roof solar panels?

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navygm

New member
Joined
May 10, 2015
Messages
2
Anyone has any idea if this is possible to fit solar panels on the roof and charge while its parked outside?
I've been thinking about this idea for long as it could be very useful.

if there is someone who has experimented somehow I appreciate any information

Flexible-Solar-Panel.jpg
 
Solar on the roof of the car is to Expensive and not practical. It is so much more cost effective to plug in, and you can find lots of places to do that.

If your commute is less than 40 miles each way, then just plug in at home, and install a 240v circuit for that.

If your commute is greater than 40 miles each way, then you can offer to pay for the electricity at work. If you get 4.0 miles/kwh, driving 40 miles uses 10kwh. At an electricity rate of $0.15 per kwh, the cost is only $1.50 each day. You can adjust this cost for the rates in your area. At work you can offer to work an extra 5 minutes each day to cover the cost of the electricity you use. Heck, you can even offer to work 10 extra minutes.

The cost of electricity is so cheap that it is not worth spending $5,000 to install an EVSE at work that will track and bill the cost of electricity. For Work Place charging a 120v circuit is all that you need. To re-charge 40 miles will only take a little over 5 hours at that rate.

Hope this helps.
 
Would you pay several thousand dollars for the integrated solar panels that give you extra 3-4 miles of driving on a good sunny day? I know I wouldn't.
 
navygm said:
Anyone has any idea if this is possible to fit solar panels on the roof and charge while its parked outside?
I've been thinking about this idea for long as it could be very useful.

if there is someone who has experimented somehow I appreciate any information

Flexible-Solar-Panel.jpg

I am by no means a solar panel experts (I am guessing there are quite a few on this forum), but I can say the amount of electricity you could generate would in no way be sufficient for a practical charging application. I believe set ups like this are more something that can generate enough power:

http://www.wired.com/2014/10/envision-solar-ev-charger/

This is an amusing idea (not practical either):

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/26/solar-panel-car-cover-for-your-electric-car/
 
Thanks for all those replying back.
So to give more details in regards to the answers i got,
I was thinking of this idea so during my day shift of 12hrs at work I would not waste all that sun ;)
At work they dont want to provide a plug so If needed i can charge the car :/
By d way.. I have 30km both ways as daily route to work.

These type of flex panels I can buy them for a few hundred dollars and would produce about 200watts if i cover whole roof..so in a day i would be able to get some free energy :)

That was my idea
 
navygm said:
I was thinking of this idea so during my day shift of 12hrs at work I would not waste all that sun ;)

If you own the car and do not expect to qualify for battery replacement under the capacity warranty you want to park your car in the shade.
 
As someone else already said, even 200 watts of panels will only make about 1 kWh of power per day at most, enough to get you maybe 2-4 miles down the road, not counting any charging losses. The big problem with the panels would be that the voltage would need to be stepped up and regulated, then connected directly to the 400 volt battery, which can be VERY dangerous if not done properly.
 
Just to get an idea of what it really takes to make car-mounted solar panels semi-viable, via ABG:
Immortus solar EV will have unlimited range, not unlimited speed
http://www.autoblog.com/2015/08/18/immortus-solar-ev-will-have-unlimited-range-not-unlimited-speed/

Oh, driving in a mid latitude desert country helps too.
 
This would work good to power the 12 vdc system/sterio/climate control loads, alliviating the traction packs need to power those loads through the dc/dc converter.

The roof can harvest near 300 watts or .3 kwh per hour with modern 23% efficient monocrystaline semi flexiable panels available for a mere 2$ per watt from ebay.

Several 30 watt panels each with thier own micro mppt. They can be adhered with a removable quality 3m automotive double stick tape. The power lines could be descretely run along the rain gutter roof line and fed into the 12vdc bus under the hood or under the hatch.

Then replace the lead acid 12 volt battery under the hood with a high capacity lithium battery; maby made from several leaf battery cells. Set the mppt's to fill the lithium battery to up to 15 vdc then the traction pack dc/dc will remain off until the pack drops below 12 vdc.
 
Set the mppt's to fill the lithium battery to up to 15 vdc then the traction pack dc/dc will remain off until the pack drops below 12 vdc.

If we could change the charging algorithm then the first order of business would be to correct it for the current FLA 12 volt battery.
 
In using my Leaf, usually my 12v usage is 200-300 watts. Unless you're doing a lot of very slow driving, you're unlikely to get over 1.25 hours of driving around, using that 300 watts. 1.25*300=375Wh. So, that's about 1.6 miles of range if you're getting 4.4 miles/KWh or so.. Given that, 50w of solar on the roof would keep your 12v topped up while parked, and reduce the usage of the DC to DC converter when driving. Another consideration on the matter is how much drag the panels would produce, even if the panel is a flexi panel, adhered to the roof, the connection points likely will be raised up and probably cause enough drag to negate the benefit of the panel.

Solar panel solar shield for the front of the car while parked? haha.
 
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