On 3 Mar 2021 at 23:22, Lawrence Rhodes via EV wrote: > https://solarteameindhoven.nl/stellafamily/ I've mentioned these vehicles > before.
Sounds like a fantastic future, but don't hold your breath. The Stella Lux has less than 6 square meters of PV, and the Stella Vie has less than 5 square meters. They're a fascinating dream, but I can't see them as commercially viable vehicles. The Lightyear is closer to viable. In fact, it's supposed to go on sale later this year. It will cost 150,000 euros (US$180,000) and will have ... 5 square meters of PV. You can't put a Lightyear on a sunny road and drive it at 65mph without ever plugging it in. Its PV is strictly for range exension. That 5 square meters just isn't enough for the car's level of energy efficiency. The average US residential roof is between 200 and 300 square meters. Even if you use only half ot it, that's between 17 and 30 times as much square area for PV as any of the above cars has, and you won't have to worry about parking your roof under a shade tree or in a covered parking deck. The idea of a car that drives solely on sunlight is futuristic and cool. But I predict that it will be decades, if ever, before onboard solar cars will be a rational use of money or materials. However, you can drive on pure solar energy NOW. Just put PV on the roof or in the back yard, where it belongs. That and a respectable plug-in EV will cost a lot less than US$180k. Even easier: contract with an renewable energy electricity supplier for your mains energy. David Roden, EVDL moderator & general lackey To reach me, don't reply to this message; I won't get it. Use my offlist address here : http://evdl.org/help/index.html#supt = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Q: What do you call a principal female opera singer whose high C is lower than those of other principal female opera singers? A: A deep C diva. -- Anonymous = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub ARCHIVE: http://www.evdl.org/archive/ LIST INFO: http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org
