I did the sums and I think you'd need at least a tennis court (200m^2) of solar cells to produce enough power to drive a tiny car (50hp) on a motorway.
200m^2 of 100% efficient solar cells will net you around 50hp. However, most solar cells are only about the order of 15% efficient at the conversion or thereabouts. However, even saying that, a 50hp rated car engine does not necessarily sink 50hp worth of actual power when driving - the hp rating may well be a theoretical peak engine output. You'd really need to go way more indepth to figure out the minimum solar cell area for motorway driving (including fluid and surface drags).
Let's say a car (1.6 Ford Focus wikipedia) needs 100 hp (max bhp) at 115 mph (top speed) and drag force is proportional to speed^2. Then 30 hp will be required at 60 mph.
I did the sums and I think you'd need at least a tennis court (200m^2) of solar cells to produce enough power to drive a tiny car (50hp) on a motorway.
javb222 1 year ago
200m^2 of 100% efficient solar cells will net you around 50hp. However, most solar cells are only about the order of 15% efficient at the conversion or thereabouts. However, even saying that, a 50hp rated car engine does not necessarily sink 50hp worth of actual power when driving - the hp rating may well be a theoretical peak engine output. You'd really need to go way more indepth to figure out the minimum solar cell area for motorway driving (including fluid and surface drags).
oilotnoM 10 months ago
@oilotnoM
Let's say a car (1.6 Ford Focus wikipedia) needs 100 hp (max bhp) at 115 mph (top speed) and drag force is proportional to speed^2. Then 30 hp will be required at 60 mph.
15% efficiency at 200W/m^2 => 3 tennis courts.
javb222 10 months ago
I agree blooshooz. He's forty, but the man not only is good looking, he's extremely smart and chockfull of good vocabulary. Oh boy. :]
chiquitagina 3 years ago 5