Re:Electric car that charges itself
by bobthepanda on Tuesday March 16, 2021 @10:22PM
(#26485766)
> Cars are out in the sun
Are they? Cars spend a fair amount of time under things that would block sunlight; there are garages in all sorts of buildings from your bare-bones detached house garage to multistory affairs, and even if they're outside they're often parked under trees, or in streets and lots shaded by buildings. So it makes already intermittent solar even more situational.
In fact, in hot climates, people take care to park their cars in shade, because the last thing people want is for their car to be baking in the sun.
Re:Electric car that charges itself
by onethought on Tuesday March 16, 2021 @10:59PM
(#26485998)
Zoom in on any satellite shot of a city, or a road... count the cars vs the solar panels you see. Yes cars are out in the sun... lots of them, all the time. The fact the satellite can see it means there is solar energy in that spot, right when that photo was taken. Multiply that by "All the cars outside in the world" and it's a lot of energy. (Even if they are all still plugging in at their destinations as well).
The same thing won't happen with solar, it needs active use in novel areas. Cars are out in the sun, why not collect it? Panels aren't exactly a super rare resource, we could and should make piles of these and stick them to everything, it's literally free electricity and basically 0 maintenance.