“The solar cells provide us with more than 50% of our needs,” says Boubaker Siala, founder and CEO of Bako Motors. “For example, the B-Van, for commercial use, you can have free energy for about 50 kilometers (31 miles) per day… 17,000 kilometers (10,563 miles) per year. …….. The B-Van, which can carry 400 kilograms (882 pounds) of cargo and has a 100 to 300-kilometer (62 to 186 mile) range, is designed for logistics and last-mile delivery, with prices starting at 24,990 Tunisian dinar ($8,500)."
It varies widely by vehicle type, etc - but travelling 31 miles costs you in the ballpark of $3 in the US or €5 in Europe. So that's around $1,000/€1,800 of free fuel every year if you were using this vehicle most days. The B-Van is small, but perfect for local deliveries, especially if paired with swappable batteries.
You know what will never pay for itself with its self-generation fuel capacity? A gasoline combustion-engine car. Here's another pointer, they're rapidly becoming the transport option of yesteryear.
The solar-powered compact car driving Tunisia’s electric vehicle revolution
It’s a testament to human stupidity how there are not solars cells on every upward-facing surface of every single electric car.
…Another testament is saying that any given deployment of solar has to carry 100% of the workload or else it’s completely useless.
you can just stop there. we have so much wasted surface space that doesn't need to move and is just wasted, collecting heat instead of power - roofs, carpaks, hell, they're finding it's good for crop lands. we know what we need to do, we simply can't get the petroleum earth rapists to give up their fetishes.
These are relatively tiny vehicles, with correspondingly low energy demand. In a country that is mostly desert. That's why the numbers add up.
But solar panels have negligible impact on the reach of a regular-sized EVs in cooler climates. Rooftop solar outputs about 1kWh/m² a day here, and that's at a much better angle that vehicle roofs. Contrast that with 80kWh batteries.
A few panels on the roof of an EV would help offset the HVAC of the car. Could also help in a survival setting where you run out of charge but the heat could run at a very low output to keep you from freezing to death.
How often does this happen to you? And how much power can you even get from a solar panel in a typical outside environment where you'd freeze to death?
Actually a lot, in some cases - solar panels like cold, and the sun is still the sun, and if it's extreme enough any moisture is on the ground and itself kind of reflective.
Of course, a normal black surface also converts sunlight into heat. And it doesn't help at night. In that situation just insulating clothes or a blanket is a way better solution.
Day or night? As a kid we used to heat with wood - every morning I'd wake up and start the first and then take my shower... The fire was out by 9am, but the house was noticeably warmer at 12 than 9am anyway from solar, and we didn't need to light the night fire until 7-8pm (the sun went down around 4pm), and it would burn on low all night.
The coldest days tend to also be clear skies. Cloudy days did not get nearly as much solar heat, they needed less, but we would have to light a fire again at noon to get through the day.
Which is to say you can get more than enough solar to save your life if there is a reasonable amount of insulation in the car if it is daytime - but it wouldn't be enough to get through the night when you need the heat most.
The energy provided by a car-roof-sized solar panel would be completely, totally negligible compared to how much is used by a typical electric car. The only reason it works here is because these cars are so tiny. For a standard 4-door model? It would be a waste of time, and better to just put that panel on a roof somewhere instead.
If they were free, sure.