Hey Dave, interested in some more solar panel calculations?
https://futurism.com/fully-solar-powered-car-hitting-road-2019/https://www.lightyear.oneI love how they'll be glad to take your preorder (from 4000€ to the full 120.000€), but won't show you real pictures of the car, nor real-life data.
This seems quite misleading to me
Effortless Energy
Lightyear One is charged by solar power. This unique quality allows it to drive for months without charging. You are sure to have peace of mind, knowing your electric car can always drive. The battery ensures that you can drive anywhere, even at night.
Drive for months without charging... after not driving for months waiting for a charge?
In the preorder FAQ, they do vaguely state that
How many kilometers can be harvested/collected from the sun?
This depends on the climate of your country. Here are some estimates for the Lightyear One:
Amsterdam: 10.000 km
Paris: 11.000 km
Madrid: 17.000 km
Los Angeles: 19.000 km
Chicago: 14.000 km
Houston:16.000 km
New York: 14.000 km
Washington: 15.000 km
Honolulu: 20.000 km
U.S. Virgin Islands: 21.000 km
If a Tesla P100 consumes 15kWh per 100km, they're stating that I can charge 1650kWh/year from solar alone, or 4.5kWh/day on average. And let's pretend there are no buildings in Paris to block the sun from my car.
If I'm not mistaken, I'd need four 260W rooftop panels to achieve this (under ideal conditions), or 6.8m
2 of cells... on a car. That's not to say you can't find 6.8m
2 of free space on a car, but given the complex design of today's cars, what would they use? I've seen those flexible panels, but if I remember correctly, the efficiency was really bad.
So is this just another attempt at pulling money out of people's pockets or is it just a gimmick that will barely have any use unless driven out to the Sahara? (I'm aware it also has traditional charging capability, but why try to make solar its main selling point?)