Solar Cars: Why Haven't They Dominated The Roads Like Electric Vehicles? A Recent Study Reveals Why This Innovation Hasn't Gained Popularity Yet

Solar Cars: Why Haven’t They Dominated The Roads Like Electric Vehicles? A Recent Study Reveals Why This Innovation Hasn’t Gained Popularity Yet

Written by Bruno Teles

Published on 08/12/2023 at 00:50

Updated on 08/12/2023 at 01:15

Carro solar da Lightyear (Imagem / Divulgação)

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The Idea of Solar-Powered Cars, Capturing Free Fuel from the Sky and Eliminating Concerns About Range and Charging Time, Appears to Be the Holy Grail of Electromobility. However, Recent Research from DW Planet A Reveals Why This Innovation Has Yet to Take Off Globally.

Companies like Sono Motors in Germany and Lightyear in the Netherlands have invested in building their own solar cars but ultimately faced bankruptcy. “There are many ways to ruin the concept,” experts say.

To understand the challenges, the research takes us to Aachen, Germany, where the Solar Raceteam Sonnenwagen team works on one of the most efficient electric vehicles in the world. This car, more resembling a ping-pong table than a conventional vehicle, highlights the importance of aerodynamics and lightness for energy efficiency.

covestro Solar Raceteam Sonnenwagen — Covestro – Solar Raceteam Sonnenwagen

First Solar Car and New Challenges

The first solar car was created in 1955 by William G. Cobb of General Motors, but building solar cars is more complex than simply installing solar cells on a small vehicle. One of the main challenges is the angle of the sun, as solar cells generate more energy when perpendicular to the sun. The special cells required are expensive, around 35 thousand dollars, and need to be robust and securely integrated into the car.

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The Manufacturing of These Solar Cells Is Complex, Especially Because They Need to Be Curved in Solar Cars

Integrating these cells into parts of the car is not easy, and the entire process is expensive; Sono Motors would need 200 to 300 million euros just to start mass production.

Furthermore, there are uncertainties about how many kilometers a solar car can actually travel, ranging from 293 to 5,100 kilometers per year, depending on various factors such as solar panel size, geographical location, and weather conditions.

Companies like Lightyear have had to significantly increase the price of their vehicles due to high manufacturing costs, while Sono Motors is restructuring and selling its automobile manufacturing capabilities.

While there are solar cars on the roads, like the Hyundai Sonata with a solar roof, which offers only a few extra kilometers a day, the reality is that solar panels in cars are still more of a design feature than a practical solution.

Solar Cars: Why Haven’t They Dominated The Roads Like Electric Vehicles? A Recent Study Reveals Why This Innovation Hasn’t Gained Popularity Yet

The Idea of Solar-Powered Cars, Capturing Free Fuel from the Sky and Eliminating Concerns About Range and Charging Time, Appears to Be the Holy Grail of Electromobility. However, Recent Research from DW Planet A Reveals Why This Innovation Has Yet to Take Off Globally.

First Solar Car and New Challenges

The Manufacturing of These Solar Cells Is Complex, Especially Because They Need to Be Curved in Solar Cars

While an average building in London or New York takes three years to be completed, in China a 26-story tower went up in five days with about 100 workers, and the global modular construction market already moves US$ 95 billion per year.

Australia installs giant concrete structures on the seabed 800 meters from the shore to create an ocean intake for desalination that will draw in saltwater and produce 30 million liters of drinking water per day.

While a traditional school may take several days just to raise walls, in Malawi a 3D-printed school had its structure ready in 18 hours, welcomed children in June, and showed a new solution to the lack of classrooms.

Goodbye traditional washing machine: Panasonic surprises housewives with the NA-G5 featuring four drums, a 13 kg washer and dryer, a 12 kg dryer, independent mini washers, a heat pump, and a 4-in-1 system awarded at the German Design Award.

While cities spend fortunes patching potholes and tons of plastic become waste, the Netherlands transforms over 218,000 recycled cups into a modular bike path that can conceal drainage, cables, and pipes.

Empty beer bottle turns into sand, and the sand turns into concrete: an American city has discovered how to recycle glass locally using a solar-powered truck that crushes five tons of bottles per day in a local circular economy project.

While treasure hunters compete for the San José in Colombia and the Atocha in Florida, Andalusian archaeologists map a 17th-century Spanish galleon with 27 intact cannons and evidence of cargo linked to the colonial silver fleet at just 6 meters deep in the Bay of Cádiz.

While the US and China compete over who will first deploy a hypersonic aircraft on a commercial route, JAXA tested a 2-meter demonstrator with a hydrogen ramjet engine in 2026 under conditions equivalent to Mach 5 with an external temperature of 1832 degrees Fahrenheit.

Attention: Bolsa Família app will undergo changes and the update will reach 19 million families

While traditional driving schools lose 70% of enrollments, the Brazilian government saves R$ 1.8 billion in 5 months with the free theoretical CNH course on the official app and exempts 1.5 million candidates from the mandatory 45 hours.

While Tesla is still awaiting approval for FSD in China, XPENG deploys the country’s first mass-produced robotaxi unit in Guangzhou, with 3,000 TOPS of computing power and latency under 80 ms without LiDAR.

Solar Cars: Why Haven’t They Dominated The Roads Like Electric Vehicles? A Recent Study Reveals Why This Innovation Hasn’t Gained Popularity Yet

The Idea of Solar-Powered Cars, Capturing Free Fuel from the Sky and Eliminating Concerns About Range and Charging Time, Appears to Be the Holy Grail of Electromobility. However, Recent Research from DW Planet A Reveals Why This Innovation Has Yet to Take Off Globally.

First Solar Car and New Challenges

The Manufacturing of These Solar Cells Is Complex, Especially Because They Need to Be Curved in Solar Cars

While an average building in London or New York takes three years to be completed, in China a 26-story tower went up in five days with about 100 workers, and the global modular construction market already moves US$ 95 billion per year.

Australia installs giant concrete structures on the seabed 800 meters from the shore to create an ocean intake for desalination that will draw in saltwater and produce 30 million liters of drinking water per day.

While a traditional school may take several days just to raise walls, in Malawi a 3D-printed school had its structure ready in 18 hours, welcomed children in June, and showed a new solution to the lack of classrooms.

Goodbye traditional washing machine: Panasonic surprises housewives with the NA-G5 featuring four drums, a 13 kg washer and dryer, a 12 kg dryer, independent mini washers, a heat pump, and a 4-in-1 system awarded at the German Design Award.

While cities spend fortunes patching potholes and tons of plastic become waste, the Netherlands transforms over 218,000 recycled cups into a modular bike path that can conceal drainage, cables, and pipes.

Empty beer bottle turns into sand, and the sand turns into concrete: an American city has discovered how to recycle glass locally using a solar-powered truck that crushes five tons of bottles per day in a local circular economy project.

While traditional driving schools lose 70% of enrollments, the Brazilian government saves R$ 1.8 billion in 5 months with the free theoretical CNH course on the official app and exempts 1.5 million candidates from the mandatory 45 hours.

While Tesla is still awaiting approval for FSD in China, XPENG deploys the country’s first mass-produced robotaxi unit in Guangzhou, with 3,000 TOPS of computing power and latency under 80 ms without LiDAR.

While traditional driving schools lose up to 70% of enrollments, the official app of the Ministry of Transport connects 172,200 accredited instructors to students via GPS and reduces the cost of the first driver’s license by up to 80%.

Honda launches Elevate cheaper than Honda HR-V, Toyota Corolla Cross, Hyundai Creta, Jeep Compass, and Volkswagen Taos in Brazil, with a 1.5 i-VTEC engine of 121 hp, manual or CVT transmission, and Honda Sensing; SUV shows a simpler, more rational, and accessible global Honda in India.

Used Honda Fit that many Brazilians overlook offers a trunk space of up to 1,045 liters with Magic Seat, a 1.5 i-VTEC engine with 116 hp, fuel consumption of 14.1 km/l on the highway, and seat technology that no popular SUV offers for the same price.

While treasure hunters compete for the San José in Colombia and the Atocha in Florida, Andalusian archaeologists map a 17th-century Spanish galleon with 27 intact cannons and evidence of cargo linked to the colonial silver fleet at just 6 meters deep in the Bay of Cádiz.

While the US and China compete over who will first deploy a hypersonic aircraft on a commercial route, JAXA tested a 2-meter demonstrator with a hydrogen ramjet engine in 2026 under conditions equivalent to Mach 5 with an external temperature of 1832 degrees Fahrenheit.

Attention: Bolsa Família app will undergo changes and the update will reach 19 million families

While traditional driving schools lose 70% of enrollments, the Brazilian government saves R$ 1.8 billion in 5 months with the free theoretical CNH course on the official app and exempts 1.5 million candidates from the mandatory 45 hours.

While Tesla is still awaiting approval for FSD in China, XPENG deploys the country’s first mass-produced robotaxi unit in Guangzhou, with 3,000 TOPS of computing power and latency under 80 ms without LiDAR.