[MattsAwesomeStuff]

Same as every solar EV plan, expect nearly nothing. Wattage and time just aren't enough to make much energy.

However, you expect nearly nothing, a few extra miles.

So... knowing what you know about costs and such, go nuts!

Except you're probably better off just spending the money on extra batteries.

 

[dtbaker]

Hi All,

thinking aloud here ...
My 2013 Ford Connect van can hardly do 65miles per charge, not useful at all.

Being a van I have fair bit of space on the roof and bonnet/hood, I can make a good 5 Sq Meters.
Solar cells are cheap and fairly efficient these days, I have access to a lamination machine where I can build various DIY flexible solar panels, large one for top of the roof and a small one for the bonnet/hood,
my estimate I can get over 1000W every hour (weather permitting),
That should give me at least a couple of miles drive and hopefully charge the vehicle when stationary,
My plan is to "splice" the solar kit via a DC-DC inverter DIRECTLY to the HV cable connecting the battery pack to the front of the vehicle,
The inverter will need to be intelligent enough to supply constant voltage matching that of the battery pack, ie the feed from the inverter will/should appear as a pack "on parallel" to the battery pack,

what do you - guys thinks about this idea?

have you noticed how many kw your car pulls driving on the level at 60 mph? I'm guessing about 20kw. than would mean that for a full 6 hours of sunshine on your anticipated 1kw of PV, lets say 6kWhr of energy to be friendly on a summer day, you'd use up the entire day worth of sunshine in 15 minutes or around 18 miles of added range.

flexible PV panels are notoriously fragile, and generally don't last long. Cost would be $4k-$5k maybe..... which would buy way more than 6kWhr worth of batteries which would have a far longer life.

so.... I'd say, not a great use of time and money to put PV on an EV to extend range.

 

[seza]

Thank you guys for your input,
yes, I agree more batteries is the ultimate goal.