Quote:
Originally Posted by frost
In the "American Solar Challenge" solar powered vehicles are driven across the country, can get up to ~50mph and never use a drop of fuel. Now, I understand that the weight of these vehicles is next to nothing, plus the streamline, no drag design is not conventional to America's current standards, but at least it's a proof of concept that in a few years the technology may be there to make this a practical option.
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Unfortunately, they're still limited to the amount of solar panels you can place on the vehicle. Technically, it would only worsen by the scale you build at. So for instance, if you built one of those solar racers 15 times larger with exactly scale powered motor and solar panels, it wouldn't work because you're increasing weight without increasing efficiency. But I'm glad the drive is still there. I don't think solar power through panels on the vehicle are the answer, but if you bring together the wireless energy transfer technology (similar to Nicola Tesla's technology) and you post Sterling Energy dishes down the highway (maybe 200-400 meters apart) you can have electric cars that run off solar energy with wireless energy transfer through the road.