How come car companies haven't come up with a solar powered car yet?

Question

How come car companies haven't come up with a solar powered car yet?

Answer 1

They have; they just haven't found a way to make it practical to mass produce and sell it to consumers at an affordable price.

Answer 2

To get enough power to have some value u would need something the size of a 18 wheel trailer.

Answer 3

They have!!!They(Big goverment)  just dont want us to know about it yet. Its like every other invention ever invented. It takes ages for the product to get to us, the consumer. Mate, if some-one can imagine it, there'll be some-one else that can make it.

Answer 4

Many car companies HAVE come up with solar powered cars.  However, the technology is not practical at this point, mostly because the problem of power storage for night and cloudy day use is difficult to overcome.

Answer 5

A number of solar power cars have been developed, but none are practical for everyday use.

Answer 6

they already have in austrailia they have a solar powered car race every year

Answer 7

At present, 50 W Hr./sq.ft/ good sunny day day in the tropics is the deliverable power from a solar panel.

This is too small to power any passenger car.

Answer 8

They have.  Solar powered vehicles have been around for years.  Queens University had the record winner for a LONG time (see link).

You should be able to tell from the design of the car that most cars are too heavy to be powered just by solar power.

Answer 9

because they won't meet the demands of the average driver.

The BEST solar cars made so far have been used in the "Sunrayce" series of college competitions...  and have averaged about 30 mph for 2 hours on a good day.

$500,000 for a competitive car...

Answer 10

Because to make a car that would travel at the speeds you want to travel would be:

1)  Expensive.  Very expensive.

2)  Large... as in HUGE.

3)  Very lightweight... about as safe as a motorcycle.

It won't ever happen, it just won't work.

Answer 11

If you can figure out how to make a solar powered car that works on a cloudy day, you'll make a foutune.

Answer 12

They have but the the gas companies wouldn't be making BILLIONS of dollars then.

Answer 13

They have, they're just not mainstream because they aren't very efficeint. Solar power pannels don't collect 100% of light, and cars need to run on a lot more fuel than solar powered panels can offer.

Answer 14

www.first-molecule.com  



Alternative energy company

Answer 15

because of solar engine is not available to the companies and the bateries which run on solar energy

Answer 16

To me its is not practical with the needs we have in terms of driving at all hours and weather besides the lack of sun in some communities for most of the day.

Answer 17

they have come up but due to expensiveness only used for racing puposes (often called rayces) on world solar challenge day.

Answer 18

because even in the brightest sunlight, it can only go 5 mph, or so.

and at night ......

what's amazing is the amount of energy stored in gasoline.

1 hp = 746 watts (3/4 of a kw).

so maybe your house is wired for 6 kw.

that would be 8 hp.

and it rarely uses that much.

now, maybe your car can produce 160 hp.

that's like 20 houses.

if you've seen solar panels, they take up a fair amount of roof space.

and 20x that would power your car.

at noon.

in the summer.

when it's not raining.

or even cloudy.

and btw, global warming isn't going to help.

Answer 19

Because no one (to first approximation) would actually want to drive one everyday.

The sun does put out a lot of energy but only about a one kilowatt per square metre actually makes it to the Earth's surface of that we can only convert at best about 20% of that into electricity (using very expensive PV cells).

So the solar powered cars are single person things that don't have air conditioning and only get up to good speeds in the desert (and even then you'd be hard pressed to reach the speed limit on a typical country road).

They also don't work at night and go a lot slower when there are clouds.

Putting batteries in them would be a possibility but that makes them heavier (batteries are very heavy) meaning more power is required to move the car which also requires the solar panels to change up for even longer than your trip will be and before you know it you end up better off just charging it by plugging it into the wall.

Answer 20

Any electric car can be solar powered.

eg http://www.green-car-guide.com/features/...

Tesla Motors can arrange installation of solar panels on an owners home or owners can purchase electricity that has been created by the company’s large scale solar farm partners. This pollution-free electricity is fed into the grid and directly offsets the electricity used to charge the car.

it is not practical to put on the car because of the extra weight & wind resistance, the area required, and little issues like driving through tunnels in cities like Boston where there is little light at street level.

Answer 21

actually they have.

the government is saying that they are still in "testing" but they are NOT. they are ready and safe to go. BUTT, the government is paying the scientist and the engineers and people who make these cars to shut their mouths, and not tell anyone that the car works.

WHY you ask?

well,

the government is being selfish and greedy and want to keep the money for themselves. IM SERIOUS. which totally sucks.

Answer 22

Well, if the motor had 150 horsepower it would take 112 kilowatts. Ok. A square-foot of solar cells would put out 10 watts and cost $56. To produce the needed 112 kilowatts you would need 11,200 square feet of solar panels and $630,000. The ones on tv are extremely efficient, lightweight, and are made with very high quality parts.

Answer 23

R&D Here's a link for U. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5723794/