Re:Lightyear One
by thesuitonym on Friday August 05, 2022 @02:15PM
(#32359811)
I once saw a concept car that touted a solar roof, not for charging the battery (Although it did that, albeit only slightly) but for running the AC off free electricity. It seemed like a really great idea for a hot summer day.
Really, if the solar panels do enough to let me run the radio and maybe charge a phone... that's pretty good. Where I live, I need to have a car, and if that car can double as an emergency source of power, all the better.
That said, the price tag is way too high, but it would be great of some of the ideas this car represents found their way into more modest vehicles.
It would also benefit ICE vehicles. If you could run the AC while parked instead of idling that’d be a win
One section says it averages 1000km per charge based on 50km city driving per day. Another section says the battery itself has a range of 625km (city?) and 560km highway. So that would suggest that just 375km came from the solar, or 18.75km per day.
Seems more likely that "up to 70km" refers to a full day with full sun at an ideal location and time of year, not a full day with the car mounted on a solar tracking system.
That would roughly match what Aptera is claiming. Aptera has a more radical design, but looks like it might have less panel area.
Its much simpler than that - its a scam.
EEVblog 1480 - Lightyear Zero Solar Powered Electric Car https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIokNnjuam8
Specs say "up to 70km" of additional solar range per day; which I'm assuming is perfect alignment of the sun with the panels for the whole day. So realistically it'd be 10km (or 3%ish of the total plugin range) if its a cloudless day and you park in full sun (this is a wild guess but seems realistic).
If you ask me, its not a huge boost, but its more than I would have expected.