Why Solar Power Cars Still Remain Vague Today

It is a constant wonder why nobody’s going to argue about the desirability of having a car that can drive by gas stations and leave no pollution behind yet why didn’t solar power cars become very popular? The main reason is that solar cells are very fragile. They generate little amount of power and motors powered in solar power cars produce too small an amount of horsepower to make them useful.

A twenty-year tradition now, the annual race of solar power cars runs in Australia from Darwin to Adelaide, a trip of about 1,877 miles at top speed of nearly sixty-two miles per hour. This race is part of the World Solar Challenge, with teams from many major universities and corporate enterprises up for competition. During the first race of solar power cars in 1987, top speed was just 42 miles per hour and was done to promote research onto solar powered vehicles.

In actuality, there are only a few efficient applications of solar power cars in use today. The simplest and commonest example is perhaps the golf cart. Several golf carts are run by solar power and they can recharge while sitting in the sunlight each year. Part of the problem is that the number of solar cells attached to the vehicle is limited by the size of the vehicle and the motors they operate are generally between two and five horsepower only. Another problem is that batteries are still too heavy to be able to receive enough power to push their weight as well as the weight of the vehicle and operator.

Batteries Serve As Fuel Tank

Batteries within solar power cars serve much the same purpose as a gas tank on conventional cars. While lead-acid batteries are more efficient and easier to connect, the power-to-weight ratio makes them not a better choice for solar power cars. In contrast, nickel-cadmium, lithium-ion and lithium-cadmium batteries have a better range, but are more difficult to incorporate into the vehicle’s electrical system. Solar power cars require an average between 80 to 170 volts of stored power to operate.

While hybrid vehicles using gas or diesel engines are growing in popularity, hybrid bicycles using solar power and human peddle power have also captured the penchant of many people recently. Being able to get a vehicle moving by human energy before adding power from solar energy is now being viewed as a possibility for solar power cars. Except, instead of using human power, stored battery-operated motors are being used.

Because there is no established design for solar power cars, many designers are focused strictly on reducing the drag. Surprisingly, this has brought about emergence of many vehicles bearing a strong resemblance to airplanes. Solar power cars remain elusive today and perfecting it seems like an impossible dream. However, with some people not ceasing to study and conduct research about their possible features and enhancements, we just might be surprised in the future if they become the next best thing.

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