ZAP to show off a solar electric car at the San Francisco International Auto Show
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The San Francisco International Auto Show starts tomorrow (and runs through November 26) at the Moscone Center and Zap! will be showing off their newest car. Zap! will be publicly introducing the Xebra Xero, their first electric car with solar charging. They have taken their existing plug-in EV Xebra, and bolted a panel of solar cells to the roof to allow the battery pack to be charged anytime the car is in outside during the daylight. Zap! is also offering a larger solar panel charger that customers can mount on their rooftop to charge the car while it's parked in the garage. It's great to see vehicles like this being developed, but it would sure help to attract more customers if the design looked a little more integrated, instead of like one of Bre Pettis's weekend projects (no disrespect to Bre, because I love trying his projects).[Source: Zap]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
CM 1:59AM (11/18/2006)
I have to give them credit for good intentions, but this is not all that great of an idea. Photovoltaic panels are expensive, and on a car it would be shaded too often, and would rarely face the sun directly. The additional aerodynamic drag would probably cancel most of the power produced
Much better to affix the panel to a stationary site that would never be shaded and would often directly face the sun, for maximum useful power output.
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