
Integrated photovoltaics are an emerging technology which can extend the range of electric vehicles. However, up to now there is a lack of a consensus method that would provide consumers with an estimate of the fraction of annual driving which could be covered by solar power generated onboard in different usage scenarios and locations. To address this, we assess the energy implications of vehicle integrated photovoltaics for a commuter car and light delivery van for six climatic regions and for typical daily usage profiles over a ten-year period.
Read the full article Impact of Climatic Conditions On Prospects for Integrated Photovoltaics in EVs.
Authors: Christian Thiel, Ana Gracia Amillo, Alessandro Tansini, Anastasios Tsakalidis, Georgios Fontaras, Ewan Dunlop, Nigel Taylor, Arnulf Jäger-Waldau, Kenji Araki, Kensuke Nishioka, Yasuyuki Ota, Masafumi Yamaguchi.
Fig. 1. PVEV concepts. Unique 1990s experimental PVEV at European Solar Test Installation (ESTI) (picture: Joint Research Centre) (a), Sion solar car (picture: Sono
Motors GmbH) (b), Lightyear One (picture: © Lightyear) (c).