this post was submitted on 11 Dec 2023
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Helmond-based solar car maker Lightyear suspends car production, switches to building solar roofs (siliconcanals.com)
submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/technology
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[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

It probably won't happen even if you lived near the equator and had year round perfect weather. There is about 1000W/m^2^ to work with as a theoretical limit, and it's just not enough to power a car with the panels on its own roof. Not unless you keep the motor power to e-bike levels, but with way worse weight and aerodynamic cross section.

At best, it can be a supplementary power source. It needs to be low weight and low cost for even that to be worthwhile.