The future of solar energy in transport

Do you know the World Solar Challenge? It's a race specifically for solar cars. Solar cars usually have batteries of photovoltaic cells that convert sunlight into usable electrical energy. The aim of the race is to raise awareness about the use of solar energy for transport and the development of alternative forms of energy, especially solar cells.

The future of the use of solar energy in transport services may still be a bit unclear given the practical difficulties of converting ordinary cars into solar cars, but the idea is here to stay and hopefully, it is developing into something promising and useful.

At this point, solar cars have been built to join the solar car races. Very few have been built for practical and commercial purposes. There are many reasons why the solar car stays in the background.

The design of a solar car is based on the vehicle's electrical system.  the system   controls the electricity flowing from photovoltaic cells to batteries, wheels and controls. The electric motor that moves the vehicle is powered solely by the electricity produced by the solar cells. Solar cells, depending on the number installed on the vehicle, can produce more or less 1,000 watts of power from the sun's rays. To give you an idea, 1000 watts is just enough electricity to power an iron or even a toaster.

And since the sun will probably be covered with clouds at one time or another, or if the car goes through a tunnel or something like that, solar cars are equipped with batteries to provide backup power to the engine. The batteries are charged by the solar cells. However, the batteries are not charged while driving the solar car unless you intend to drive very slowly.

Just like an accelerator pedal in conventional engines, an engine controller regulates the amount of electricity that enters the engine to speed up or slow down the vehicle at any time. Solar cars are not as slow as perceived by almost everyone. These cars can go as fast as 80-85 mph.

With this you can see why solar cars are not yet in commercial production. Nowadays, solar cells can exploit more than 21% of the solar energy that hits the surface. If the time has come for the cells to receive more energy from the sun, we may be able to see solar cars in the streets. But right now, it's pretty hard to create a model of commercial production of a solar car.

Nevertheless, there are companies that have already created solar concept cars and test their road potential. There is even a scooter that is allowed in the street and that runs from batteries charged with photovoltaic cells. Another possible application of solar car technologies concerns golf carts that are slow enough at first and that golfers can also appreciate.