How solar cells work, what holds them back, and EVs with rooftop panels
Understanding exactly how solar cells work, their fundamental efficiency limits, and why electric vehicles don’t get rooftop PV panels…
In this report, I’m going to help you understand exactly how solar cells work.
Not only this, you’re going to learn the fundamental limits to solar cells in terms of efficiency, and we’ll answer that common question I get regularly, about why electric vehicles don't actually come out of the factory with an enormous photovoltaic solar panel on the roof.
Get ready for the beer garden physics deep dive into photovoltaics and why the idea of putting a solar array on an EV seems like a perfect fit, but doesn't work.
Here’s the question from James McLean:
Put simply, no, James. They did not forget. They probably thought about this in R&D for about 10 minutes before deciding that it was pretty much a fool's errand.
Rooftop solar for electric vehicles is completely impractical, however nice it seems. You can figure this out pretty quickly with a pen and a napkin and an engineering degree and I'm tipping most of you only have two out of three on this, which, sadly is insufficient to get a pass on this one.
So if you invest the next 30 minutes, I will reward you with a beer garden PhD in applied photovoltaics and I think we all want that. This will help you understand rooftop solar at home and it actually works, plus what its fundamental limitations are.
While we're talking about photons and the spectrum and spooky subatomic interaction generally, how about we get a tired old automotive myth and bust it for good?
I thought you might like that.
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