Solar vehicle

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The University of Michigan's Infinium during testing on the Stuart Highway. A solar vehicle is an electric vehicle powered by solar panels on the vehicle. Photovoltaic (PV) cells convert the sun's energy directly into electric energy. Solar power may be used to provide all or part of a vehicle's propulsion, or may be used to provide power for communcations, or controls, or other auxiliary functions. Solar vehicles are not sold as practical day-to-day transportation devices at present, but are primarily demonstration vehicles and engineering exercises, often sponsored by government agencies. However, indirectly solar-charged vehicles are widespread and solar boats are available commercially.

Contents

1 Limitations 2 Land o 2.1 Solar car o 2.2 Single-track vehicles o 2.3 Applications o 2.4 Auxiliary power o 2.5 Personal Rapid Transit o 2.6 Rail 3 Water 4 Air 5 Space o 5.1 Solar powered spacecraft o 5.2 Solar propelled spacecraft

o 5.3 Planetary exploration 6 Electric vehicle with solar assist o 6.1 Plug-in hybrid and solar vehicles 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Limitations
There are limitations to using photovoltaic (PV) cells for vehicles:

Power density: Maximum power from a solar array is limited by the size of the vehicle and area that can be exposed to sunlight. While energy can be accumulated in batteries to lower peak demand on the array and provide operation in sunless conditions, the battery adds weight and cost to the vehicle. The power limit can be mitigated by use of conventional electric cars supplied by solar (or other) power, recharging from the electrical grid. Cost: While sunlight is free, the creation of PV cells to capture that sunlight is expensive. Costs for solar panels have declined with the introduction of thinfilm technology. Lifetime: Even though sunlight has no lifespan, PV cells do. The lifetime of a solar module is approximately 30 years.[citation needed] Standard photovoltaics often come with a warranty of 90 % (from nominal power) after 10 years and 80 % after 25 years. However, in vehicular purposes they need to be sealed well if meant to operate efficiently for decades in all weather conditions.[citation needed]

[edit] Land
[edit] Solar car
Main article: Solar car See also: solar-charged vehicle

Ned, constructed in 1999 by the South Australian Solar Car Consortium, can speed up to 120km/h. Solar cars depend on PV cells to convert sunlight into electricity to drive electric motors. Unlike solar thermal energy which converts solar energy to heat, PV cells directly convert sunlight into electricity.[1] Solar cars combine technology typically used in the aerospace, bicycle, alternative energy and automotive industries. The design of a solar car is severely limited by the amount of energy input into the car. Solar cars are built for solar car races. Even the best solar cells can only collect limited power and energy over the area of a car's surface. This limits solar cars to a single seat, with no cargo capacity, and ultralight composite bodies to save weight. Solar cars lack the safety and convenience features of conventional vehicles. Solar cars are often fitted with gauges to warn the driver of possible problems. Cars without gauges almost always feature wireless telemetry, which allows the driver's team to monitor the car's energy consumption, solar energy capture and other parameters and free the driver to concentrate on driving. As an alternative, a battery-powered electric vehicle may use a solar array to recharge; the array may be connected to the general electrical distribution grid.

[edit] Single-track vehicles

A solar bicycle or tricycle has the advantage of very low weight and can use the riders foot power to supplement the power generated by the solar panel roof. In this way, a comparatively simple and inexpensive vehicle can be driven without the use of any fossil fuels.[2] Solar photovoltaics helped power India's first Quadricycle developed since 1996 in Gujarat state's SURAT city.[3] The first solar "cars" were actually tricycles or quadricycles built with bicycle technology. These were called solarmobiles at the first solar race, the Tour de Sol in Switzerland in 1985 with 72 participants, half using exclusively solar power and half solar-human-powered hybrids. A few true solar bicycles were built, either with a large solar roof, a small rear panel, or a trailer with a solar panel. Later more practical solar bicycles were built with foldable panels to be set up only during parking. Even later the panels were left at home, feeding into the electric mains, and the bicycles charged from the mains. Today highly developed electric bicycles are available and these use so little power that it costs little to buy the equivalent amount of solar electricity. The "solar" has evolved from actual hardware to an indirect accounting system. The same system also works for electric motorcycles, which were also first developed for the Tour de Sol. This is rapidly becoming an era of solar production.[4] With today's high performance solar cells, a front and rear PV panel on this solar bike can give sufficient assistance, where the range is not limited by batteries.

[edit] Applications
The Venturi Astrolab in 2006 was hailed as the world's first commercial electro-solar hybrid car, and it was originally due to be released in January 2008.[5] In May 2007 a partnership of Canadian companies led by Hymotion altered a Toyota Prius to use solar cells to generate up to 240 watts of electrical power in full sunshine. This is reported as permitting up to 15 km extra range on a sunny summer day[6] while using only the electric motors. One practical application for solar powered vehicles is possibly golf carts, some of which are used relatively little but spend most of their time parked in the sun. An inventor from Michigan, USA has built a street legal, licensed, insured, solar charged electric scooter. It has a top speed controlled at a bit over 30 mph, and uses fold-out solar panels to charge the batteries while parked.[7]

Nuna 3 PV powered car

"Solar Taxi" [4]

[edit] Auxiliary power

Photovoltaic modules are used commercially as auxiliary power units on passenger cars [5] in order to ventilate the car, reducing the temperature of the passenger compartment while it is parked in the sun. Vehicles such as the 2010 Prius, Aptera 2, Audi A8, and Mazda 929 have had solar sunroof options for ventilation purposes.

The area of photovoltaic modules required to power a car with conventional design is too large to be carried onboard. A prototype car and trailer has been built Solar Taxi. According to the website, it is capable of 100 km/day using 6m2 of standard crystalline silicon cells. Electricity is stored using a nickel/salt battery. A stationary system such as a rooftop solar panel, however, can be used to charge conventional electric vehicles. It is also possible to use solar panels to extend the range of a hybrid or electric car, as incorporated in the Fisker Karma, available as an option on the Chevy Volt, on the hood and roof of "Destiny 2000" modifications of Pontiac Fieros, Italdesign Quaranta, Free Drive EV Solar Bug, and numerous other electric vehicles, both concept and production. In May 2007 a partnership of Canadian companies led by Hymotion added PV cells to a Toyota Prius to extend the range.[8] SEV claims 20 miles per day from their combined 215W module mounted on the car roof and an additional 3kWh battery. On 9 June 2008, the German and French Presidents announced a plan to offer a cedit of 6-8g/km of CO2 emissions for cars fitted with technologies "not yet taken into consideration during the standard measuring cycle of the emissions of a car".[9] This has given rise to speculation that photovoltaic panels might be widely adopted on autos in the near future [10] It is much more feasible to run an ultralight vehicle on solar energy than a standard car. Many prototypes have been built for competitions such as the World Solar Challenge. The solar challenge cars can average 100 km/h for long distances. For 2007 a new Challenge class specified an upright seating position and smaller solar panels to create a class of vehicle which with little modification could be the basis for a practical proposition for sustainable transport. The winning car still achieved an average speed slightly in excess of 90 km/h (56 mph). The Venturi AstroLab in 2006 was hailed as the world's first commercial electro-solar hybrid car due to be released in January 2008, with a solar range of 18 km/day and a total range of 110 km it can be charged either from the sun or from AC mains. It is also technically possible to use photovoltaic technology, (specifically thermophotovoltaic (TPV) technology) to provide motive power for a car. Fuel is used to heat an emitter. The infrared radiation generated is converted to electricity by a low band gap PV cell (e.g. GaSb). A protoype TPV hybrid car was even built. The "Viking 29" [11] was the Worlds first thermophotovoltaic (TPV) powered automobile, designed and built by the Vehicle Research Institute (VRI) at Western Washington University. Efficiency would need to be increased and cost decreased to make TPV competitive with fuel cells or internal combustion engines.

[edit] Personal Rapid Transit

JPods PRT concept with photovoltaic panels above guideways Several Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) concepts incorporate photovoltaic panels.

[edit] Rail
PV panels were tested as APUs on Italian rolling stock under EU project. PVTRAIN PVTrain concluded that the most interest for PV in rail transport was on freight cars where on board electrical power would allow new functionality:

GPS or other positioning devices, so as to improve its use in fleet management and efficiency. Electric locks, a video monitor and remote control system for cars with sliding doors, so as to reduce the risk of robbery for valuable goods. ABS brakes, which would raise the maximum velocity of freight cars to 160 km/h, improving productivity.

In addition to on-vehicle solar panels, there is the possibility to use stationary panels to generate electricity specifically for use in transport. A few pilot plants have been built in the framework of the "Heliotram" project, such as the tram depots in Hannover Leinhausen [12] and Geneva (Bachet de Pesay).[13] The 150 kWp Geneva site injected 600V DC directly into the tram/trolleybus electricity network provided about 1% of the electricity used by the Geneva transport network at its opening in 1999. Direct feed to a DC grids avoids losses through DC to AC conversion. DC grids are only to be found in electric powered transport: railways, trams and trolleybuses.

[edit] Water
Main article: Electric boat Solar powered boats have mainly been limited to rivers and canals, but in 2007 an experimental 14m catamaran, the Sun21 sailed the Atlantic from Seville to Miami, and from there to New York.[14] Japan's biggest shipping line Nippon Yusen KK and Nippon Oil Corporation said solar panels capable of generating 40 kilowatts of electricity would be placed on top of a 60,213 ton car carrier ship to be used by Toyota Motor Corporation.[15][16][17]

In 2010, the Tranor PlanetSolar, a 30 metre long, 15.2 metre wide catamaran yacht powered by 470 square metres of solar panels, was unveiled. It is set to circumnavigate the Earth and is so far the largest solar-powered boat ever built. [18]

Tranor PlanetSolar, the world's largest solar-powered boat Various demonstration systems have been made. Curiously, none yet takes advantage of the huge power gain that water cooling would bring. In 2007, the PV powered boat Transatlantic 21 successfully crossed the Atlantic Ocean power only by solar electricity.

[edit] Air
Main article: Electric aircraft Solar ships can refer to solar powered airships or hybrid airships. [19] There is considerable military interest in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs); solar power would enable these to stay aloft for months, becoming a much cheaper means of doing some tasks done today by satellites. In September 2007, the first successful flight for 48h under constant power of a UAV was reported.[20] This is likely to be the first commercial use for photovoltaics in flight. Many demonstration solar planes have been built, some of the best known by AeroVironment. [6]

Gossamer Penguin

Manned solar planes o Gossamer Penguin,

o o o

Solar Challenger - This plane flew 163 miles (262 km) from Paris France to England on solar power. Sunseeker II - This plane is currently (May 9) on a tour of Europe HB-SIA. Working prototype for Solar Impulse Project

UAVs Pathfinder and Pathfinder-Plus - This unmanned plane demonstrated that an airplane could stay aloft for an extended period of time fueled purely by solar power. o Helios - Derived from the Pathfinder-Plus, this solar cell & fuel cell powered UAV set a world record for flight at 96,863 feet (29,524 m). [21] o Zephyr - built by Qinetiq, this UAV set the unofficial world record for longest duration unmanned flight at over 82 hours on 31 July 2008 Future projects o Sky sailor (aimed at Martian flight) o Solar Impulse (aimed at manned circumnavigation of the globe) o various solar airship projects e.g. Lockheed Martin's "High Altitude Airship"
o

A solar-powered aircraft in Switzerland completed a 26-hour test flight starting at 7 a.m. on 8 July 2010 which ended at 9 a.m. the next day. The plane was flown to a height of nearly 28,000 feet (8,500 meters) by Andre Borschberg. During the evening, the plane slowly descended to an altitude of 4,500 feet (1,500 meters), where it remained for the rest of the night using battery power. An hour before dawn, the plane still had six hours of flying time left in its solar-fueled batteries. [22] Just 15 days later on 23 July 2010 the QinetiQ Zephyr, a lightweight solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicle engineered by the United Kingdom defence firm QinetiQ, claimed the endurance record for an unmanned aerial vehicle. It flew in the skies of Arizona for over 2 weeks (336 hours). It has also soared to over 70,700 feet (21.5 km).[23][24]

[edit] Space
[edit] Solar powered spacecraft

PV on the International Space Station Main article: Solar panels on spacecraft Solar energy is often used to supply power for satellites and spacecraft operating in the inner solar system since it can supply energy for a long time without excess fuel mass. A Communications satellite contains multiple radio transmitters which operate continually durin g its life. It would be uneconomic to operate such a vehicle (which may be on-orbit for years) from primary batteries or fuel cells, and refuelling in orbit is not practical. Solar power is not generally used to adjust the satellite's position, however, and the useful life of a communications satellite will be limited by the on-board station-keeping fuel supply.

[edit] Solar propelled spacecraft

A few spacecraft operating within the orbit of Mars have used solar power as an energy source for their propulsion system. All current solar powered spacecraft use solar panels in conjunction with electric propulsion, typically ion drives as this gives a very high exhaust velocity, and reduces the propellant over that of a rocket by more than a factor of ten. Since propellant is usually the biggest mass on many spacecraft, this reduces launch costs. Other proposals for solar spacecraft include solar thermal heating of propellant, typically hydrogen or sometimes water is proposed. An electrodynamic tether can be used to change a satellitte's orientation or adjust its orbit. Another concept for solar propulsion in space is the light sail; this doesn't require conversion of light to electrical energy, instead relying directly on the tiny but persistantradiation pressure of light.

[edit] Planetary exploration

Perhaps the most successful solar-propelled vehicles have been the "rovers" used to explore surfaces of the Moon and Mars. The 1977 Lunokhod programme and the 1997 Mars Pathfinder used solar power to propel remote controlled vehicles. The operating life of these rovers far exceeded the limits of endurance that would have been imposed, had they been operated on conventional fuels.

[edit] Electric vehicle with solar assist

A Swiss project, called "Solartaxi", has circumnavigated the world. This is the first time in history an electric vehicle (not self sufficient solar vehicle) has gone around the world, covering 50000 km in 18 months and crossing 40 countries. It is a road-worthy electric vehilce hauling a trailer with solar panels, carrying a 6 m sized solar array. The Solartaxi has Zebra batteries, which permit a range of 400 km without recharging. The car can also run for 200 km without the trailer. Its maximum speed is 90 km/h. The car weighs 500 kg and the trailer weighs 200 kg. According to team leader Louis Palmer, the car in mass production could be produced for 16000

Euro. Solartaxi has toured the World from July 2007 till December 2008 to show that solutions to stop global warming are available and to encourage people in pursuing alternatives to fossil fuel.[25] Palmer suggests the most economical location for solar panels for an electric car is on building rooftops though,[26] likening it to putting money into a bank in one location and withdrawing it in another.[27]

Louis Palmer standing in the Solartaxi. Solar Electrical Vehicles[28] is adding convex solar cells to the roof of hybrid electric vehicles.[29]

[edit] Plug-in hybrid and solar vehicles

An interesting variant of the electric vehicle is the triple hybrid vehiclethe PHEV that has solar panels as well to assist. The 2010 Toyota Prius model has an option to mount solar panels on the roof. They power a ventilation system while parked to help provide cooling.[30] There are many applications of photovoltaics in transport either for motive power or as auxiliary power units, particularly where fuel, maintenance, emissions or noise requirements preclude internal combustion engines or fuel cells. Due to the limited area available on each vehicle either speed or range or both are limited when used for motive power.

PV used for auxiliary power on a yacht

[edit] See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Solar-powered vehicles Wikinews has related news: Solar car travels around the world

List of solar car teams Electric aircraft Electric boat Frisian Solar Challenge Kit car Low-cost solar cell Plug-in hybrid Solar balloon Solar-charged vehicle Solar Golf Cart South African Solar Challenge Tour de Sol

[edit] References
1. ^ [Pimentel, D. "Renewable Energy: Economic and Environmental Issues"]http://dieoff.org/page84.htm 2. ^ www.solartricycle.com 3. ^ Innovative Transport Vehicle Development 4. ^ no source 5. ^ The first commercial solar-electric hybrid car 6. ^ Hymotion modified Prius using solar power 7. ^ PVScooter 8. ^ Hymotion modified Prius using solar power accessed 14 September 2007 9. ^ http://www.elysee.fr/download/?mode=press&filename=09.06_emissions_from_cars_version_an glaise.pdfaccessed 28 September 2008 10. ^ http://www.systaic.com/press/press-release/systaic-ag-demand-for-car-solar-roofsskyrockets.htmlaccessed 28 September 2008 11. ^ http://vri.etec.wwu.edu/pdf%20files/v29paper.pdf Use of a Thermophotovoltaic Generator in a Hybrid Electric Vehicle, Seal et al., Vehicle Research Institute, Western Washington University Bellingham, Washington 98225 12. ^ http://www.iea-pvps.org/products/download/rep7_07.pdf 13. ^ http://www.ecotourisme.ch/site/7/site7.htm 14. ^ "Solar boat makes Atlantic history". BBC News. 30 March 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6509677.stm. Retrieved 2010-06-01. 15. ^ "Alternative Energy and Fuel News:". Enn.com. 2008-08-26. http://www.enn.com/energy/article/38019. Retrieved 2009-09-19. 16. ^ "Japan launches first solar cargo ship". Solardaily.com. http://www.solardaily.com/reports/Japan_launches_first_solar_cargo_ship_999.html. Retrieved 2009-09-19.

17. ^ "Solar ship sails the ocean green - National". www.smh.com.au. 2005-03-15. http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Solar-ship-sails-the-oceangreen/2005/03/14/1110649129813.html. Retrieved 2009-09-19. 18. ^ "PlanetSolar News." PlanetSolar. 19. ^ [1] 20. ^ [2] BBC News: Solar plane flies into the night accessed 10 September 07 21. ^ [3] accessed 28 September 2008 22. ^ Tawhid, J. (20 July 2010) "Solar plane complete 26 hour flight" CNN News 23. ^ Singh, Timon. "Zephyr Solar Powered Plane Shatters Three World Records". Inhabitat.com. http://inhabitat.com/zephyr-solar-powered-plane-has-broken-three-records-fai-confirms/. Retrieved 3 March 2011. 24. ^ Amos, Jonathan (2010-07-23). "'Eternal plane' returns to Earth". BBC News. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-10733998. Retrieved 2010-07-23. "touched down at 1504 BST ... on Friday ... took off ... at 1440 BST (0640 local time) on Friday, 9 July" 25. ^ Solar taxi 26. ^ Around London and Coventry 27. ^ Energy concept 28. ^ "www.solarelectricalvehicles.com". www.solarelectricalvehicles.com. 2009-08-24. http://www.solarelectricalvehicles.com/. Retrieved 2009-09-19. 29. ^ "Using Solar Roofs To Power Hybrids". TreeHugger. http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/05/solar_hybrid_ca.php. Retrieved 2009-09-19. 30. ^ By Steve Almasy CNN (2009-01-28). "Solar cars still a way off". CNN.com. http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/01/28/solar.powered.cars/index.html. Retrieved 2009-09-19.

[edit] External links

AeroVironment website Fondation Ocan Vital prototypes PV in trains, buses and 'planes

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_vehicle" Categories: Solar powered vehicles Hidden categories: All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements from August 2009 | Articles with unsourced statements from January 2010
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