It turns out, student engineers, and one major car manufacturer are already trying the idea. But there are limits to how effective these panels can be.
Megan Hall: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers. I’m Megan Hall.
Today’s question comes from a listener. Kari from Providence wants to know if it would be possible to power our cars directly from solar panels.
We had Niki Bhimireddy and Isha Thakkar from our Possibly Team look into this question.
Megan Hall: Welcome Niki and Isha!
Niki Bhimireddy: Hi, Megan! Thanks so much for having us!
Isha Thakkar: Hello!
Megan Hall: So, is it possible to use solar energy to power our cars?
Niki Bhimireddy: Well actually Megan, it has been done! The Hyundai Solar Roof uses the sun’s energy to charge the car’s battery when it’s driving and when it’s parked!
Isha Thakkar: And there are startups trying to introduce solar-powered cars as well.
Megan Hall: Really? How much of a difference does it make?
Isha Thakkar: According to Hyundai, the solar roof on its hybrid car can add about 800 miles of range a year.
Niki Bhimireddy: That’s a drop in the bucket of the 13,000 miles the average American drives each year.
Isha Thakkar: So, from an emissions perspective, you’d be better off with an electric vehicle than a hybrid with a solar panel on its roof.
Niki Bhimireddy: But, other companies are working on electric cars that also use solar panels. They think these models will double the range of a typical EV.
Megan Hall: Woah that’s pretty cool.
Niki Bhimireddy: It is, and today’s students are pushing this idea forward as well. We talked with Neha Basu, a member of the MIT Solar Electric Vehicle team.
Isha Thakkar: That’s a racing team that won the American Solar Challenge competition for designing, building, and driving a solar-powered car two times!
Neha Basu: So basically, it can double up as any electric vehicle, the same way that you would plug a Tesla into the wall, our Gemini can do the same thing. But Gemini can also be powered with solar panels. So that’s a way to ensure that regardless what the conditions outside are, you can still use this car to drive.
Megan Hall: Okay, so how long are these cars able to last on solar power?
Niki Bhimireddy: Neha says,
Neha Basu: For the previous iteration of our car, which was Nimbus, when we were going at around 35 miles per hour, which was the steady state speed that we had, Nimbus could go for around 175 miles.
Isha Thakkar: But the Nimbus is not like your typical car. It’s stripped down and super light. It doesn’t even have a back seat- let alone a stereo or air conditioning.
Niki Bhimireddy: The bottom line is, the amount of sunlight that falls on cars, even when it’s sunny, can’t create that much energy.
Isha Thakkar: So, A normal heavy car can’t move very far with just solar power.
Niki Bhimireddy: It’s unlikely solar panels will ever be the only source of energy for our cars, but they can always help.
Megan Hall: If they’re helpful, why don’t all-electric cars have solar panels? What’s the hold-up?
Isha Thakkar: Well, unfortunately, there are still a few limits to this technology. Right now, solar panels are commonly used for the roofs of houses where there is much more space.
Niki Bhimireddy: Car makers are still working on how to scale these down for cars without losing efficiency. Neha says that these solar cells are also pretty delicate.
Neha Basu: Whenever you’re adding a new technology like this, you have to be really careful that you’re protecting it from the environment. They’re very fragile so they’re easy to break.
Niki Bhimireddy: There is still a lot of technology to figure out. But if engineers can address some of the limitations of solar panels, more of us might get extra miles from the roof of our cars.
Megan Hall: Cool! Thanks, Niki and Isha.
That’s it for today. For more information, or to ask a question about the way your choices affect our planet, go to askpossibly.org Or subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts.
You can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn or X at “askpossibly”
Possibly is a co-production of Brown University’s Institute for Environment and Society, Brown’s Climate Solutions Initiative, and the Public’s Radio.
The post Could we put solar panels on cars? appeared first on TPR: The Public’s Radio.