Solar for Automotive industry

 The global Solar-powered automotive market is expected to hit 329.5 Million USD by 2023, with a registered CAGR of 43.4%. North America and Europe alone are responsible for over 77% of this market value. Now that these figures have your interest, let us dive a little further into what drives this industry and the impact it has on the planet.

First and foremost, it is important to understand what are the touchpoints of Solar power in the Automotive industry.

The conventional fuels used by vehicles everywhere are primarily Petrol and diesel, both of which are fossil fuels. The average personal vehicle releases about 4.6 metric tonnes of CO2 per year. For every gallon of gas burned, they release 8.9 kilograms of CO2. Passenger vehicles cause the most pollution of all the transport modes. Not only do they cause air pollution, the emissions also pollute the water and land.

The advent of electric vehicles

With this information in mind, there has been a steady shift to alternative fuel sources for passenger vehicles. Right now, the move is heavily towards battery operated vehicles, which are greener than fossil fuel powered ones. Electric scooters and cars, and hybrid vehicles are increasingly becoming popular as the individual sense of environmental awareness is on the rise.

Although they may be emission-free on the road, there are other points in their lifecycle where they have an adverse effect on the environment. The electricity used to charge the batteries comes primarily from burning fossil fuels. The batteries themselves are made from heavy metals that exact a toll on our resources from mining. The manufacturing process involves a lot of industrial pollution. Their range of motion is also limited to the charge in the batteries. You may have to carry a spare battery or try to find the nearest charging station, which is not convenient for long-distance travel.

This is where Solar-powered vehicles come into play.
 

What are Solar powered vehicles?

Solar Vehicles are in fact Electric vehicles, whose batteries are powered through solar energy. They come equipped with photovoltaic cells which convert solar energy into electric energy, which is stored in the vehicle’s batteries. This essentially makes them self-charging vehicles, expanding the market for electric vehicles.

Types of Solar Electric Vehicles:

A lot of careful research has gone into Solar power integration in the automotive industry. There are the conventional Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) which are the larger representation of the EV market. They are equipped with chargeable and removable batteries to run the vehicle.

The next type is the Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) that have an internal combustion engine that is powered by fossil fuels, as well as Batteries. The batteries are charged through the gas engine. They can switch between the two seamlessly, giving us the benefit of high fuel economy and low emissions, while retaining the range and power of conventional vehicles. With Solar integration, the batteries can be wired to charge from the photovoltaic cells.

The third type is a Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle.  It has an internal combustion engine and an independent battery that can be charged from the electric outlet at charging stations. It comes with a socket to plug in the charger. These batteries can also be charged with solar power with the integration of solar cells in the car or recharged using power from solar inverters.

Efficiency in Electric Vehicles:

Solar powered vehicles have greatly contributed to increased efficiency in Electric vehicles. It is a solution to the problem of rapid discharging in EVs on the road. A single charge can only propel the vehicles for a limited distance. Vehicles fitted with solar panels can be charged on the go and are a viable infrastructure to improve their range. This addresses Electromobility issues that were a pain point for customers considering EVs.

Solar power significantly cuts down on the carbon footprint of these vehicles. They bring down the emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants involved in the charging of the batteries.

In a study conducted with equivalent simulation models, a vehicle equipped with Photovoltaic cells has a 25% increased working time in comparison with a regular electric vehicle. Automotive solar panels can improve the recharging time of electric vehicles by 40%. The initial research, implementation, and infrastructure integration costs may be high, but they pay for themselves in the long run.

Solar technology and infrastructure:

The initial concern in the integration of solar power in vehicles was that it is space intensive. The current technology uses photovoltaic panels that are fit on the roof of cars. But research is underway to explore other surfaces on the vehicle’s body. The larger model cars have up to 7 square metres of space that can be fit with solar panels.

The end product needs to be aesthetic and aerodynamic and the bulky prototypes of today may not work in the long run. Industry experts are mining the potential of thin solar cells molded onto carbon fibre, glass, and polycarbonate sheets. These can be integrated into the body panels instead of being fit on top of the body. They become actual structural elements of the vehicle.

Environmental impact of Solar vehicles:

About 100 Million new vehicles are manufactured every year to meet the growing demands. Currently, there are 1.2 Billion cars on the road and only 0.5% of them are Electric. The transition from conventional vehicles to Solar EVs can reduce emissions by 100% in the case of using Solar electricity. They have the lowest carbon footprint of all transport mediums.

Solar BEV’s require only 3 cubic meters of water per year and emit less than 160 kg of CO2. They have negligible land footprint while on the road. We can safely conclude that Solar powered vehicles are the most resource efficient mode of transport.

The shift to Solar power in the Automotive industry will play a crucial part in the coming year in combating climate change. The clean energy initiative is being widely adopted by countries across the world with a major focus on transport. Distributed Energy is an experienced platform aggregator for enabling renewable energy projects. We leverage our technical expertise in optimizing clean energy production. With projects spread across Asia and Africa, we are actively looking to partner with organizations that share our vision of clean energy acceleration. Visit www.de.energy to partner with us.

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