Solar car

A solar car is a solar vehicle used for land transport.

Solar cars only run on solar power from the sun. To keep the car running smoothly, the driver must monitor multiple gauges to spot possible problems. Cars without gauges almost always feature wireless telemetry, which allows the driver's team to monitor the car's energy consumption, solar energy capture and other parameters and thereby freeing the driver to concentrate on driving.

Solar cars combine technology typically used in the aerospace, bicycle, alternative energy and automotive industries. The design of a solar vehicle is severely limited by the amount of energy input into the car. Most solar cars have been built for the purpose of solar car races. Some solar cars are designed also for public use List of prototype solar-powered cars

Solar cars depend on a solar array that uses photovoltaic cells (PV cells) to convert sunlight into electricity. Unlike solar thermal energy which converts solar energy to heat for either household purposes, industrial purposes or to be converted to electricity, PV cells directly convert sunlight into electricity. When sunlight (photons) strike PV cells, they excite electrons and allow them to flow, creating an electric current. PV cells are made of semiconductor materials such as silicon and alloys of indium, gallium and nitrogen. Crystalline silicon is the most common material used and has an efficiency rate of 15-20%. The first solar family car was built in 2013. Researchers at Case Western Reserve University, have also developed a better solar car which can recharge more quickly, due to better materials used in the solar panels.

Chinese solar panel manufacturer Hanergy plans to build and sell solar cars equipped with lithium-ion batteries to consumers in China.Hanergy says that five to six hours of sunlight should allow the cars’ thin-film solar cells to generate between 8-10kWh of power a day, allowing the car to travel about 80km on solar power alone. Maximum range is about 350km (217 mi.).

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