Would you have an electric car if you had the money for a new car and were in the market for one?

[Slenver]

He probably has solar panels on the house!

I suspect this might be what he meant

You can get cars with panels on the roof, but they'd probably cover the radio and lights on a sunny day!

[Mr. Dazzle]

From my totally selfish POV.

I get a >2/3 discount on the car.

I only drive any real distance one day a week. Don't really care if my car is flat on Tue-Fri.

You can get cars with panels on the roof, but they'd probably cover the radio and lights on a sunny day!

I saw a great rule of thumb on this once. "If it gets warm through use, it probably can't be solar powered". That's not to say you can't have a solar charged car, just that it won't charge "in real time".

[Noggin]

He probably has solar panels on the house!

I suspect this might be what he meant

You can get cars with panels on the roof, but they'd probably cover the radio and lights on a sunny day!

Turns out they are on the garage!!

[Count Steer]

From my totally selfish POV.

I get a >2/3 discount on the car.

I only drive any real distance one day a week. Don't really care if my car is flat on Tue-Fri.

You can get cars with panels on the roof, but they'd probably cover the radio and lights on a sunny day!

I saw a great rule of thumb on this once. "If it gets warm through use, it probably can't be solar powered". That's not to say you can't have a solar charged car, just that it won't charge "in real time".

Speaking of which, ie things getting warm, I was out and about yesterday chatting to a brainbox chap as we went and I pondered on why the nations with lots of spare space and sun, + with existing LNG shipping capacity didn't cover the land with panels and make hydrogen.

He said....it's too sunny! Output drops if panels get too hot and overheating is a problem. You'd have to motorise them all and find other ways of shading them. Dunno if it's true but he's usually right (about everything ).

[Slenver]

He said....it's too sunny! Output drops if panels get too hot and overheating is a problem. You'd have to motorise them all and find other ways of shading them. Dunno if it's true but he's usually right (about everything ).

I'm certainly no expert (and don't have any PVs myself), but was told by a guy I got round to look at the possibility of installing that that's even a problem here. He said April/May (or similar) is most efficient in the UK as it balances reasonable sunshine without too much heat. It drops off either side of that.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Yeah solar panels are what...20% efficient at best, and the rest gets turned into heat. AFAIK as they get hotter that efficiency gets worse. Something about band gaps, quantum physics or summit!

But, it does always raise the question in my mind, why doesn't anyone make combined PV/water heater units for the roof? All the wasted energy in PVs becomes heat anyway. I'm sure there are reasons, probably even good ones.

[Docca]

Still have the Volvo. With the hot weather, I’m getting 280 miles a charge. According to my Octopus thing I’m paying £2 a charge. That’s not bad

In the development I’ve moved to, I’d say at least a 3rd of the vehicles are EV. They are everywhere now.

[Taipan]

From my totally selfish POV.

I get a >2/3 discount on the car.

I only drive any real distance one day a week. Don't really care if my car is flat on Tue-Fri.

You can get cars with panels on the roof, but they'd probably cover the radio and lights on a sunny day!

I saw a great rule of thumb on this once. "If it gets warm through use, it probably can't be solar powered". That's not to say you can't have a solar charged car, just that it won't charge "in real time".

Speaking of which, ie things getting warm, I was out and about yesterday chatting to a brainbox chap as we went and I pondered on why the nations with lots of spare space and sun, + with existing LNG shipping capacity didn't cover the land with panels and make hydrogen.

He said....it's too sunny! Output drops if panels get too hot and overheating is a problem. You'd have to motorise them all and find other ways of shading them. Dunno if it's true but he's usually right (about everything ).

Wasnt that the thinking behind the solar or smart flower. It could open its petals, err panels, and follow the sun or fold them away if not needed or it was too hot etc.

[Mr. Dazzle]

'tis also part of the reason really sunny/hot places look at using solar furnaces instead.



Just a shed load of mirrors reflecting light into a thing which gets hot (technical term) and is then used to make steam, a la conventional power plant.

[Pirahna]

My solar panels are less efficient in the winter, angle of the sun is the culprit. This time of year my batteries are fully charged by 10am so I don't really care if the panels are efficent or not.

[Horse]

He probably has solar panels on the house!

I suspect this might be what he meant

You can get cars with panels on the roof, but they'd probably cover the radio and lights on a sunny day!

https://www.solarguide.co.uk/ambulance- ... and-fuel#/

2013

An ambulance service in the South East of England is turning to renewable solar energy to help power life-saving equipment in its rapid response vehicles.

The country’s first ambulance service to fit solar panels onto its emergency vehicles, South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust initially started trialling the technology back in January 2012.

Proving successful, from September of that year all new rapid response vehicles (also known as RRVs) were fitted with solar panels. To date 36 vehicles have embraced solar power as a means of providing power for the secondary battery system which is used to power the on board emergency equipment.

[Count Steer]

'tis also part of the reason really sunny/hot places look at using solar furnaces instead.



Just a shed load of mirrors reflecting light into a thing which gets hot (technical term) and is then used to make steam, a la conventional power plant.

I've seen t'world's biggest one at Font-Romeu. (It's 60 years old and 1megawatt).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odeillo_solar_furnace

[Slenver]

He probably has solar panels on the house!

I suspect this might be what he meant

You can get cars with panels on the roof, but they'd probably cover the radio and lights on a sunny day!

https://www.solarguide.co.uk/ambulance- ... and-fuel#/

2013

An ambulance service in the South East of England is turning to renewable solar energy to help power life-saving equipment in its rapid response vehicles.

The country’s first ambulance service to fit solar panels onto its emergency vehicles, South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust initially started trialling the technology back in January 2012.

Proving successful, from September of that year all new rapid response vehicles (also known as RRVs) were fitted with solar panels. To date 36 vehicles have embraced solar power as a means of providing power for the secondary battery system which is used to power the on board emergency equipment.

Pretty cool. I suppose an ambulance has the ideal roof for that kind of thing, plus presumably the battery already in place for all the gear.

[Slenver]

I've seen t'world's biggest one at Font-Romeu. (It's 60 years old and 1megawatt).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odeillo_solar_furnace

Staff_of_Ra.jpg (417.69 KiB) Viewed 298 times

[Mr. Dazzle]

I've seen t'world's biggest one at Font-Romeu. (It's 60 years old and 1megawatt).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odeillo_solar_furnace

Don't they use that one for mega hot testing/experiments? Really good way of smashing 1MW into something almost instantly without chemical contaminants etc.

[Count Steer]

I've seen t'world's biggest one at Font-Romeu. (It's 60 years old and 1megawatt).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odeillo_solar_furnace

Don't they use that one for mega hot testing/experiments? Really good way of smashing 1MW into something almost instantly without chemical contaminants etc.

Yuss.

Travel guide section: Font-Romeu is one of the oldest ski resorts in France, the Little Yellow Train goes there, some athletes go there for highish altitude training and there's a citadel/Fort in the vicinity where they train some of the equivalent of our commandos. Nice area.

[ZRX61]

Debunked website debunks false claims about EV's...

https://insideevs.com/news/672926/china ... byd-geely/

I should have posted the link that was posted on CCD... so Piranha & Screwd could debunk the debunked debunking

[ZRX61]

Pretty cool. I suppose an ambulance has the ideal roof for that kind of thing, plus presumably the battery already in place for all the gear.

If they convert the christmas lights to UV, they could charge the batteries while on the way to a call....

[Mussels]

Yeah solar panels are what...20% efficient at best, and the rest gets turned into heat. AFAIK as they get hotter that efficiency gets worse. Something about band gaps, quantum physics or summit!

But, it does always raise the question in my mind, why doesn't anyone make combined PV/water heater units for the roof? All the wasted energy in PVs becomes heat anyway. I'm sure there are reasons, probably even good ones.

The whole renewable market seems a bit lacking in good design, I think there are still enough people who will buy it without thinking too much.
I came close to getting solar hot water but realised the small tank size and slow heating rate meant much of it's potential was wasted, there's plenty of time on many days to heat a day's worth of water but that isn't much good when the tank doesn't hold enough for everyone to have a shower, the subsidised £7k quote I got wasn't much good for 2 showers a day for half the year.

[Pirahna]

Debunked website debunks false claims about EV's...

https://insideevs.com/news/672926/china ... byd-geely/

I should have posted the link that was posted on CCD... so Piranha & Screwd could debunk the debunked debunking

I read a similar story a couple of weeks ago with better pictures, there's nothing to debunk. It only affects the Chinese market.

Meanwhile in Europe VW are reducing EV production because it's cheaper to run a fossil fuels car and people aren't buying them.