Solar Powered Vehicles
The intense solar energy released by the sun has sustained life on earth for years by influencing food supply and environmental conditions. Individuals concerned with reducing the carbon footprint of transport can switch to using vehicles powered by renewable energy from the sun. Solar vehicles are electrical cars that source their energy form the sun and standby battery using solar panels. The panels use photovoltaic cells to produce electrical energy from the sun’s rays. For the most part, these vehicles have remained experimental model cars used for demonstration and publicity purposes.
At present, most solar vehicles are designed for speed and endurance of the power supply system. They make use of sturdy light weight materials like titanium to form their body structure and use a wide range of energy storage cells such as nickel cadmium, lead acid and lithium ion batteries. Solar cars make use of powerful but energy efficient electrical motors and high ratio gear system to propel the vehicle to great speeds over long distances. In addition, most solar powered vehicles frequently have two steering wheels in front and on rear support wheel. But it is not unusual to find those with four or more wheels. Solar panels can be setup in several ways to output over two kilowatts of electricity that generates over two horse powers driving force. They can be mounted horizontally on top of the solar vehicle or they can be integrated with other systems that make them adjustable to optimal solar conditions.
Vehicles powered by solar are silent, produce less emission, are relatively fast and can travel over long distances. Mainstream vehicle manufactures have started experimenting with solar energy for powering some nonessential electrical sub system such as the air condition and cooling fans. Solar vehicles chances of continued existence have greatly improved as researchers continue to release more practical and dependable electric motors, control systems, battery power and advanced electronics.
There are still a number of issues that need to be resolved before solar power becomes a cost-effective and reliable alternative vehicle fuel for the masses. This is largely because solar cars use costly parts, which makes them uneconomical for mass production due to the high risk of venture failure. Another short-term engineering limitation that makes it impossible to use solar energy is the large surface area required by the panels to generate adequate power that can dependably propel the vehicle over long periods.
However, this does not mean that enthusiasts are unable to develop solar vehicles that can perform as good as conventional gasoline powered automobiles. Some solar powered vehicles like the SolarWorld 1 can reach speeds of eighty miles per hour while on highway cruise mode. Another solar project car named solartaxi uses long lasting battery technology that enables it to go for up to four hundred kilometers when fully charged. It also has a reasonable speed limit of ninety miles per hour and has covered fifty thousand kilometers in eighteen months while going around the world passing through forty countries.
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