Channel: Engineering Explained

Category: Autos & Vehicles

Tags: solar teslaelectric cartesla model 3teslasolar roofsolar carsolar panelssolar powered carengineering explainedpv celltesla solarmyth busted

Description: Solar power is abundant and readily available, so why don't cars use it? Subscribe to Engineering Explained for more videos! - goo.gl/VZstk7 Recommended Books & Car Products - amzn.to/2BrekJm EE Shirts! - bit.ly/2BHsiuo With electric cars becoming more popular and a shift towards renewable energy sources is taking place, an obvious question becomes: why don't we simply put solar panels on top of cars? Could this help with the lack of charging infrastructure? Realistically, what would it take for solar powered cars to work out, and why haven't they been successful up until this point? This video will analyze the surface area of a modern car, providing an estimate for how much solar power it could actually generate, what speeds the cars could be capable of, and how long the cars would take to charge. We'll take into consideration the solar constant, the amount of solar power that actually reaches Earth's surface, the efficiency limits of solar panels, the curvature of the Earth (it isn't flat), and analyze how this impacts a solar car's performance. We'll also check out Aptera Motors, who's planning to make a car that will never need to charge, thanks to solar panels! References: Solar Constant - doi.org/10.1029/2010GL045777 Global Consumption - eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=41433 Surface Energy - earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/EnergyBalance Solar Efficiency - doi.org/10.1007/BF00901283 Aptera Motors "Never Charge" - aptera.us/never-charge Engineering Explained is a participant in the Amazon Influencer Program. Don't forget to check out my other pages below! Instagram: instagram.com/engineeringexplained Facebook: facebook.com/engineeringexplained Twitter: twitter.com/jasonfenske13 EE Extra: youtube.com/channel/UCsrY4q8xGPJQbQ8HPQZn6iA