can you install a solar panel into the roof of an electric car and run completely on solar energy?

Sure, but it's not yet cost-effective or enjoyable. Just think about it, you're transporting around the solar panels as well as the car? Why? They'll get mucky, and chances are that'll add more weight to the vehicle.

You'd be much better off putting a solar panel on the roof of your house or garage, and using that, especially since you can get a lot more area for less, and far less road hazards.

That's not to say there couldn't be a situation where a solar panel on the roof would be useful, but we're not there yet. If I had to go with anything, it'd be an unrollable solar fabric.

Solar Panel Car Roof

If you mean car roof the answer is no. It can't produce that much energy. At least not with the solar cells we have today. They do have experimental cars that have ran almost across Australia that relied on solar panels and an elect motor, but the panels were big and the car was small. It didn't produce much HP thou. If you ment a house roof solar panel, then the answer is yes. You could use the panels to charge batteries for the car. However, you could charge them with house currents just as well and probably cheaper considering the cost of installing solar panels and the risk of a hale storm destroying it.

This Site Might Help You.

RE:

can you install a solar panel into the roof of an electric car and run completely on solar energy?

could you embed a solar panel into the roof of an electric car and a battery to hold the excess power and a way to take the power from the solar battery to the cars battery? like is it possible? if so that would be amazing!

There are solar powered cars that are designed with the entire top of the vehicles covered with solar panels. They are used in (mostly) 3 prominent solar car races including the World Solar Challenge and the American Solar Challenge.

While these cars can be licensed as experimental craft they would not meet safety requirements (bumper height) or the comfort levels for mass commercialization (Most have to have the top removed for the single passenger/operator to get into the vehicle.) These vehicles use state of the art technology, cost several million dollars each and compromise on durability and passenger comfort to achieve the solar transportation goals.

But we can use as an example a commercial electric vehicle like the Nissan Leaf that requires an average of about .34 kWh of electricity(2) to run each mile and compare this to the best solar insolation (amount of sunlight striking the earth) in some of the sunniest deserts of the US (Arizona) that gives an average of about 8kWh/meter squared per day in July.3

So under the very best of conditions your theoretical rooftop solar panel on the roof of a Nissan Leaf could take you about (8/.34) 24 miles for the average 6 good hours of sunlight per day ( 3mph. ) That is the best possible location and time of year. In the shadow of a mountain, in polluted cities, under clouds, during winter, and at night the results will not be so good. Solar cars are extremely light and aerodynamic to accomplish much more than this and they don't try to drive at night.

What is more practical is to use a much larger static solar panel system that is properly oriented to the sun, at the right angle to maximize insolation levels. Then store the energy (possibly using "virtual storage with a grid connection) and then transfer the energy to the battery electric vehicle. This way the Solar panels are optimized for collecting energy and the car can be optimized for transportation.

It also might be possible to charge the battery somewhat or over time using a solar rooftop set up, however most solar on vehicles have been limited to powering climate equipment within the cabin of the vehicle.

No. The mechanics to move a car require a lot of energy. Solar might help, but with current technology it isn't worth it. As of now, the best deal will be electric car like the leaf and charge it over night while you have solar panels in your home, at least that is my plan. The car has a rechargeble battery that will give you about 100 miles per charge. To have the car rely on solar will not do much (might give you 5 miles at 300 ft per hour, not impresive), specially on a cloudy day.

No. Some experimental electric cars can drive on sunlight only. They are very light weight, however solar panels can recharge batteries. After you Drive to work in your electric cars solar panels can add charge to your batteries while you are at work for 8 hours.

Some new technoligies may be be to turn the entire surface of a car into a solar panel.

I have a Nissan Leaf. I have a 2 mile commute to my business. The car sits parked in the sun all day long. I don't want to power the car solely from a car-roof mounted PV array. But I could park my car with a 50% charge at 10:00 AM , and should be able to come out to a 55% - 60% charge at the end of the day.

The car sits basking in the sun all day. Why cant i capture that wherever the car is? Someone should make an aftermarket roof array.

There is a step-by-step video guide online right now that can show you how to reduce your power bill by making your own solar panels.

Take a look at it: http://tinyurl.com/Earth4EnergyRew

Why pay thousands of dollars for solar energy ($27,000 average cost) when you can build your own solar panel system for just a fraction of the retail cost. You can build a single solar panel or you can build an entire array of panels to power your whole house.

Some people are saving 50% on their power bill, some people are reducing their bill to nothing. But what’s most impressive is that just by following these instructions some are even making the power company pay them!

Yes and No.

If you mean just solar to operate the car (and no gasoline), no. There are cars that have been designed to run solely on solar panel, but they are covered by huge sheets of panels, have a max speed of 25mph, and operate only in the Mojave Desert.

If you mean battery, yes. Some vehicles (RVs often) have small solar panels on their roofs to charge battery-operated equipment. However, most cars see them as unstylish, so they are omitted. Most batteries last for a good length of time, and most cars don't use as many fuctions as RVs.

Yes you can. The solar panel can be set up to charge the battery and when the battery is charged you are good to go. It might take a while to fully charge the battery-like maybe several days to be able to drive 70 miles or so. If time is a problem it is not all that easy to make this work out well. Maybe several solar panels will resolve the time issue and you can store them is the trunk when you are driving.