Aptera solar panels

[kallisti5]

Anyone care to do the back of the envelope math on the benefit of the solar panels on the Aptera?

I personally think they're being pretty honest with the range increases due to them.
40 miles per day in sunny CA, 4 miles per day somewhere like London.

26 cells on the hood.  "roughly the same on the roof", 6 on the rear.   12? on the dash?
That's roughly 70 cells total.   "roughly 400w absolute best case based on similar cell count panels on amazon."

1kw per 10 miles.  100kw pack nets 1000 miles.


eeh. my math is falling apart here, however it sounds realistic.

[Stray Electron]

   Every time that I hear the claim "Game Changing" or anything of that sort, the claim usually smells like dead fish! I'm not wasting my time to watch a video full of ridiculous claims.  If you want us to hear your claim than spell it out so that we can read it instead linking to a video hoax.

[thm_w]

Are you calculating the watts based on cell count? Or that was someone else. You can't really do that as cell size varies.
Either you find the area they've provided (I didn't see it immediately provided) or trust their number of 700W.

Aptera’s Never Charge technology can give you up to about 40 miles per day of free driving powered by the sun. We built the most efficient vehicle, then equipped it with 700 Watts of solar power.

Some similar comparisons here: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/dodgy-technology/lightyear-one-solar-car/

[ebastler]

"roughly 400w absolute best case based on similar cell count panels on amazon."
1kw per 10 miles.  100kw pack nets 1000 miles.

eeh. my math is falling apart here, however it sounds realistic.

To keep your math together, start by not mixing up kW and kWh. 
Extra credibility points for capitalizing the W.

[max_torque]

Lots of problems with this one, from the fact the panels face different directions so you can't just "add up" the total power, from the fact they will be dirty or even damaged, and the fact that in really sunny places, peopel park deliverately in the shade to keep their cars cool, and being close to the ground local shading from tree's, buildings, fences, etc is at its worst.

In every case, when you do the maths, for a passenger car that is actually parked for more than 98% of its life, its always better to spend money on fixed solar installs local to the vehicle parking place. This nets the lowest cost of $/kWh and the most kWh because that fixed instaltion can be optimised for its location & circumstance.

There is also the issue with insurance, i'm pretty sure that any car like the aptera is going to be expensive to insure because of the complexity of the panels!

If you want a "solar powered" car, then just get a BEV and buy your own panels and inverter. Better yet, add a battery and power your whole house whilst you are at it.......


Given my own solar array here in the UK, id' be amazed if the compromised one on the Aptera harvested anything more than 1kWh per day on average, worth around 10pence per day, or £36 a year.  I bet the cost of the aptera is more than £36 a year more than say a Kia Niro or equivalent......