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Re:Why electric cars will take over sooner than you think by nine_k on Tuesday June 01, 2021 @08:48AM (#27353612)
In any case, getting 5-10 extra miles just by parking your car under sunlight while you are shopping would be nice!

The question is the cost.

Re:Why electric cars will take over sooner than you think by theshrike79 on Tuesday June 01, 2021 @09:23AM (#27354006)
The amount of panels you can put on a normal car is around 1-2 square meters max. That's not enough to give any kind of measurable range advantage.

The thing they're good for is running AC in the car when it's parked, without affecting the range. (Prius does this, I think the new Ioniq 5 has this)

Re:Why electric cars will take over sooner than you think by ben_w on Tuesday June 01, 2021 @09:39AM (#27354274)
Ground area of a Tesla model 3 is ~8.5 square meters, so I think you’re underestimating.
Re:Why electric cars will take over sooner than you think by Brakenshire on Tuesday June 01, 2021 @09:18AM (#27353952)
It would be 5-10 miles parked outside for the day, not just while you were shopping.
Re:Why electric cars will take over sooner than you think by nine_k on Tuesday June 01, 2021 @12:25PM (#27357049)
18 kWh per 100 km means about 1.8 kWh per 10 km, so about 1.5 kWh for 5 miles.

With 4 sq m of solar cells, 1 kW / sq m of sunshine at high noon, and 20% of conversion efficiency, it's 800 W. So it's about 2 hours to gain 5 miles under ideal conditions. Think really big shopping :)