On 6/27/2010 8:03 AM, Terry wrote:
> On Sat, 26 Jun 2010 13:44:17 -0400, "J. Clarke"
> > wrote:
>
>> On 6/26/2010 3:11 AM, sf wrote:
>>> On Sat, 26 Jun 2010 12:08:55 +1000, >
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I laugh at those who suggest the electric cars (plug in overnight types)
>>>> are going to solve the emissions problems. You see, all our electricity
>>>> is generated, in my home state at least, by dirty brown coal generators.
>>>> All that's going to happen is a transferrence of pollution to where the
>>>> generators are.
>>>
>>> I don't know about "most people", but my vision of the perfect
>>> electric car has never been a plug in type - it's always solar.
>>
>> So how does that work?
>>
> In theory it works nicely. In practice, not so well. A good rule of
> thumb is one horsepower per square yard of fully-illuminated area. A
> car that requires twenty horsepower---which is pretty low by today's
> standards---needs an area of solar cells at least nine feet by twenty
> feet.
>
> Working solar cars have been constructed. They require extreme
> lightweight materials and aren't well-suited to a Sunday drive with
> the family. More like "one person, 10-20 mph, as long as it's sunny."

Yep. FWIW, there's a movie with Halle Berry called "Race the Sun" that
is a nice fictionalized account of the first successful completion of
the World Solar Challenge by a high school team. While it doesn't bury
you in the technology, you do get a good impression of the overall
fragility of the things.

The Dutch did manage to run their solar car across Australia at an
average speed of better than 60 MPH, but it's not something I would want
to try to drive in Hartford traffic. Every year they change the rules
on that competition to make the entries more like practical cars, so
maybe, eventually, they'll get to a practical vehicle, but I suspect
that solar cars are going to remain technological exercises for a long
time to come.

> Someone may pipe up and say "but you can use batteries and charge them
> when you're not driving". That's done with the experimental cars but
> there's a very carefully-calculated tradeoff in weight and
> performance. Take a look at this car:
> http://www.speedace.info/solar_cars/..._road_test.jpg
> Not much room for anything but a driver.
>
> Best -- Terry