Talk:Solar vehicle

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Contents

[edit] Solar Car

"Solar car" is a category commonly associated with race vehicles designed and raced in one of several competitions including the World Solar Challenge, North American Solar Challenge and many regional races. Tens of thousands of people have been involved in designing, building and racing hundreds of these cars over two decades. There are numerous other categories of solar powered vehicles including solar powered bicycles, boats and planes.

I recommend a parent category "Solar Powered Vehicles" with three multiple categories for cars, bicycles and planes (instead of renaming this page).

FN 01:36, 5 May 2007 (UTC)fnazeeri

Don't forget solar boats, the most practical solar vehicles of them all. --Theosch 16:28, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

The article on Solar Cars needs a mention of the potential for hybrid electric vehicles to utilize solar power as an additional source of battery charging and to extend the range while driving. The UltraCommuter is concept hybrid that does just that.

Most passanger vehicles don't have enough surface area to benefit from the additional energy that could be captured by a PV array on the vehicle. Even under ideal conditions only about 1 mile could be gained by a BEV that consumes .2 to .4 kWh per mile. A far better idea would be to install a larger stationary grid-tied PV array at home, perhaps with a tracking system, such that it could produce a few kWh per day to suppliment the charging of a BEV at night while providing grid power durring the day when it's needed most. This also eliminated the need for a stationary battery to home, instead it could be located in the car and used daily for commuting to work or such. Not that I'm opposed to using PVs on a more effecient lightweight type EV or for technology proving purposes as they are currently. --D0li0 12:03, 13 September 2005 (UTC)

I might also update the article to be named Solar Vehicles, unless that category is too broad as it could include anything from solar powered aircraft to the mars rovers.

Sounds like a good idea most of the other similar articles are named something Vechicle. --D0li0 12:03, 13 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] solar car

Why are solar cars not being marketed and commercialized? Rahul

Cost of electric cars plus costs of solar panels ? (solar cell makers are a oligopoly) --Altermike 20:27, 1 May 2007 (UTC)
Solar cars are primarily technology demonstration vehicles for PV, Motors, composite materials, and aerodynamics design. So they aren't marketed and commercialized because you can not collect enough energy via PV given the surface area, weight, and creature comforts of a normal cars, you would only collect about 1 mile worth of energy per day under ideal conditions. Better to install a larger quantity of PV in a fixed/tracking stationary location (like on your homes roof), such that you can collect enough power to run your home and offset the fuel costs for your (non-PV) battery electric vehicle (which you can't easily buy, yet)... --D0li0 03:38, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Graffiti

Any ideas why this page is vandalized so frequently? It seems a pretty harmless topic, but attracts a lot of vandals. Is this normal? FN 01:52, 6 March 2007 (UTC)fnazeeri

They are petro-vandals --Altermike 20:27, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] vandals

I believe that it is perfectly normal for randoms to vandalize innocent web sites. If need be, they should be encouraged to vandalize. P.S. try the veal. --jon666 06:33, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Proposed Name Change: Solar Vehicles

Actually Solar Vehicles are manufactured and distributed. They are called Cruise cars! You may know them Golf Carts however thanks to NHTSA (National Highway Transportation Safety Administration) and their new ruling of LSV'S (Low-speed-vehicles) you can now own a street legal and nationally distributed Solar/Electric Vehicle. They are offered in 2 to 14 capacity seating with many ad-on's and extras. Travel between 20 to 25 miles per hour. Are equipped with Headlights, taillights, turn signals, rear view mirrors and seat belts. The solar panels are designed to last up to twenty years!

Here's how it works: Think of the batteries in a Golf Car or Electric Vehicles as the gas tank in your automobile. When full, you have 150 gallons of fuel or amps. Let's say you use 50 gallons or amps in a day of driving. On a clear and sunny day, the Solar Top will replenish 12 gallons or amps in the winter when days are shorter and 18 gallons or amps in the summer when the days are longer. If you don't drive the vehicle for 3 days and you park it in the sun, the Sunray Solar Top will generate 36 gallons of fuel or amps in the winter and 54 gallons or amps in the summer. So, in effect, you would fill your tank in 3 days.

As you see more and more manufactures getting in the game with electric vehicles solar will be playing a big part. Now the big three are getting involved and with the gas crunch things will happen a lot faster. Until then there's always Cruise Car, Inc. (http://www.cruisecarinc.com)Cruisecarinc 17:58, 4 May 2007 (UTC)cruisecarCruisecarinc 17:58, 4 May 2007 (UTC)!

Thank you for the information. On the other hand, I suggest change the name of the article to solar vehicle, as proposed. --HybridBoy 19:00, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
cruisecarinc.com looks like a Golf cart or perhaps ‎Neighborhood electric vehicle per the LSV regulations, I suppose because they are equipped with PV roofs the might be mentioned here in this article. Now to the point of this section, I'm not sure that Solar vehicle would be a better title as this article which focuses primarily on cars, as opposed to planes or boats which can also be solar powered and are vehicles. But then again the line is a little blurry between Car ie:Automobile and Vehicle with regards to other articles names... --D0li0 09:20, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
I vote Negative: I believe that based on the content of this article, if any name change should be made, it should be something along the lines of "Solar Race Cars/Vehicles". A separate article for "Solar Vehicles", i.e. the more commercially viable sort would be logical as well. ~Gertlex 18:00, 27 May 2007 (UTC)
No. Rememember there are also solar airplanes and solar space vehicles. 199.125.109.127 03:26, 29 May 2007 (UTC)
True... this article refers soly to cars. Someone else has taken the initiative and removed the name change template. More nay votes than yay. Case closed, methinks. ~Gertlex 16:31, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

I have proposed a split of the article, as set forth below. Bry9000 (talk) 21:13, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "Electrical system" needs more information

Mentions voltages , but not (in numbers) current, power, wiring gauge/type , peaks, averages. amper hours of the batteries.

Link to a NZ site is questionable, as it is selling Raztec sensors.

And it does not say how as in with what kind/type of electronics the on board computer controls power use.--Mark v1.0 18:18, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

A lot of this information varies quite a bit. Furthermore, many teams keep a lot of these details largely non-public. I believe the World Solar Challenge article mentions the battery capacity limit (and it probably was different for the two classes of cars in the most recent race). Ultimately, these are details that you're not going to get a lot useful information on. ~Gertlex 01:58, 4 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Races section

I have reorganized this section, and I propose to move the details of the 2005 race, and most details of the 2008 new NASC sponsorship, to the North American Solar Challenge page.Bry9000 02:20, 1 December 2007 (UTC) Done. Bry9000 (talk) 21:14, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Proposed article split

I propose to split this article into two: Solar vehicle and Solar car racing, with the latter as the sub-article. Right now, the former category describes general applications of solar power for powering all vehicles, including bikes, planes, and cars, and it need not be limited to photovoltaics. The latter category is a specific type of vehicle and event all its own. Bry9000 (talk) 20:00, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

No one has commented for two weeks, so I split the article. All of the technical details from this article are on the new Solar car racing page. Please don't revert my changes before discussing them here. Bry9000 (talk) 04:42, 23 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Off-topic

[edit] Discussion page structure

This discussion lacks structure and is unreadable. Therefore I can't be bothered to try to discuss how other than race solar cars fit into the picture. Discussion can't be a list of opinions but a category of subjects. Teemu Ruskeepää (talk) 09:03, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Solar vehicle not category/vehicle on its own

A "solar vehicle" is not category/vehicle on its own. Please discard the category and page and merge it into the electric vehicle or battery electric vehicle category/page.

Thanks. KVDP (talk) 16:11, 15 February 2008 (UTC)