Business Idea: Solar Panels For The Car

Without a doubt, one of the most polluting activities in terms of CO2 emissions is transport, particularly private cars. If in some futuristic prototype we saw the integration of solar panels in the body of the car, it seems that the energy of our star could be used from today.

The Future: Electric Power

Whether through the intermediate step of the hybrid or directly using a fully electric motor, it is undeniable that the next source of motor power for cars will be electricity.

This involves storing it in batteries, something that has so far been the biggest technical problem. The devices are expensive, heavy, bulky and take time to charge, as well as not allowing great autonomy for the vehicle. Research is improving by leaps and bounds, but an electric car is still many years away from competing with a traditional car in terms of range and reporting time.

Solar panels have a great advantage. They produce electricity as long as there is good light, and in a country like Spain, it means having access to a small but constant source of electrical energy. A car parked in the sun could recharge its batteries little by little, at zero cost.

It could be placed on the roof of the vehicle, and you can even imagine an automatic mobile system to cover the windshield, the rear window and the rest of the windows. In this way, the car parked in the sun, in addition to recharging, would not get too hot (since otherwise, it is very likely that the energy used to cool the car is higher than that stored by exposure to the sun).

Solutions For Today

The aforementioned could be installed by independent workshops, but there is no doubt that it would be much better if it were incorporated as standard by the vehicle manufacturer. However, the idea can be used from today for simpler applications.

For example, we all know the protective screens (some reflective, others made of cardboard) that are placed in summer behind the windshield of the car to prevent it from getting too hot in the sun. Well, we could imagine a screen with photovoltaic cells. A plug would be installed that would allow to recharge the battery of a standard car, or a second battery, that would recharge the first in an auxiliary way. Although obviously the cost of the solar panel and its energy efficiency would have to be studied in more detail.

Before launching your idea, put it to the test with a good business plan