Solar cars are cars right? I drive some of these!

Its funny because he isnt that far off

Nah, It goes from 0-60 in about 8 or 9 seconds. My personal vehicle can only get up to about 63 miles per hour. It's limited by voltage with the current system

My dick gets to 60 faster

...

Do they make any sounds?

Not OP. It's not that bad, most of our cars have fairly decent cooling. I feel bad for the drivers forced to wear fire suits

>Win 6 of the 8 world championships you are competing in.

NUNA is best
Muh Dutch windmill engineering prowess.

Yes, the insides are way louder than passenger cars. Though the actual created sounds are lower.
Have a listen:
youtu (dot) be/EBvek4U2x8w
No hard feelings against them for sure, they're some of the nicest guys and they work real hard. They also have huge budgets and take semesters off of school for this.

Bochum from Germany has a car that I would drive like a fucking madman

Well, thats a fucking strange thing to see. I go to WMU. Anyone want to see the Solar Car workshop?

OP here. Yes please! I wear your guys' shirt all the time! You probably wouldn't want to see the one I work in. Here you go anyways, this is literally 75% of our workshop

Question, has there been any cars made that use a hybrid electric + petrol/diesel engine AND solar power to get the most possible electric range?

Hm. A good question. I remember theres a video of a silver shitty pickup truck with a solar panel mounted in the back with some lead acids in the back hooked up to like a takeoff setup that allows the motor to only operate at normal rpms.

If I had the budget for tinkering with that kind of stuff, I'd rig up a series hybrid setup in a small diesel engine'd FWD car like a Mk I Golf, then cover the roof and bonnet in solar panels. Regenerative braking + passive solar charging could really give it some good range.

Does the fisker karma do that? They use the solar panel to power all sort of electronic accessories there, while the petrol engine is used solely to charge the battery and electric motor to drive it, iirc.

This is the way to go with EVs, I feel. Solar panels on the upper surfaces or at least the roof to provide accessory power and trickle-charge the main batteries while parked/stopped.
Maybe a solar tent to set up when you're parked for long periods to give more power.

I know the faster ones could hit 80 mph
throw in a 30 litre luggage compartment and make sure it can do at lest 60mph and I'm sold

I can definitely see the benefits of trickle charging catching on in sunnier parts of the world like South America and Australia, maybe as an upgrade option for your EV/hybrid.

The solar tent idea probably won't catch on in work-commute or grocery-getter cars, but when hybrid 4WDs and trucks start getting popular, I reckon that'll become a part of the standard off-road equipment pack that they carry.

>32°C
>hot
Mate, it regularly goes over 40°C here. Fuck I regret getting leather seats.

prius does some of this too iirc

I've never seen a Prius with solar panels, is this only on the latest models?

is an option 2010 model
and seems standard on 2015 model
not many people talk about it

Those university-built solar cars are mechanically closer to electric bicycles than cars. There is simply not enough surface area on a car for solar panels to power a normal-weight car.

A roof top solar panel could power an air fan to keep the car cool when parked outdoors, or at best, trickle-charge a battery to *maintain* it's charge when parked for an extended period of time.

If you want a real solar-powered car, cover your house roof in panels and charge a Tesla in your garage. A house does have enough surface area to power a real car.

uh oh

CLOUDS

I don't think the goal of these vehicles is to be a viable consumer option, rather a testbed for future technologies. The carbon fibre expertise, lithium ion battery experience, as well as other innovative efficiency related things that come out of these programs is the real benefit to society. I say this knowing the solar car I work with is so useless in anything outside of a structured race environment.

Seems like an impractical dd engineering competition vehicle tbqhwyfam

>Those university-built solar cars are mechanically closer to electric bicycles than cars. There is simply not enough surface area on a car for solar panels to power a normal-weight car.
heh just wait for panels with better photovoltaic efficiency kiddo

Agreed. But as someone else said stick the high efficiency panels they use on your roof and charge your Tesla. Easy money easy life. And find a way to store the energy!