Either way, that’s 250w output per square metre at a temperate latitude and climate. My guestimal result was about 225… either still seem quite high vs the commodity panels that you can just up and buy individually (which give laughable output for the price and size), so they must be proper, expensive pro grade kit.

OK, now, for starters, the roof alone costs more than I paid for my current car…
Twenty miles per day (already not enough to cover my own commute, so we’re talking at least AC-solar hybrid if not fossil-solar) is probably doable with a large, high efficiency panel in a sunny environment on a lightweight car that’s driven at city speeds… but a more typical panel in a temperate climate, on a more general purpose machine driven in a more diverse fashion may make 10 if you’re lucky. (Thinking in terms of maybe having 2 square metres of roofspace, with a non-sun-tracking panel of typical output, feeding a battery that then dumps to a pair of low-kW direct drive hub booster motors… if we can get 2.5kWh out, we’re doing incredibly well (that’s about 45% efficiency in collecting one day’s worth of the overall average solar radiation on 2sqm, where I live – in reality you’d need closer to 4sqm of top-notch panels, AND some hydraulic system to point them at the sun), and that’s good enough for about 20 miles at 31mph / 32km at 50km/h)

Plus, assuming the figures are correct, how damn expensive is your gas? Mind that I’m talking from the perspective of a north european who still buys octane-based (not diesel decane) fuel.

20 miles, six days a week, 50 weeks a year (covering work, weekend shopping, vacations…) is 6000 miles. IF you use the full capability. If that’s 30% then you’re doing a monster 20,000 miles… so, OK, you’d be getting more benefit usually. Anyway, let’s continue the math.

6000 miles, let’s say a rotten 30mpg (UK) average to compare to, is 200 gallons, or about 900 litres. At approx £1.11/litre (that’d be a GOOD price round here at the moment), we’re talking £1000.

So, hmm. OK. You COULD see that kind of benefit – £2000-4000 over 2-4 years – IF you were paying our prices, AND you used the thing to its full effect, AND your current car is poorly efficient (I get low 30s, because I have an older car and drive it fairly hard)… or you had the more realistic scenario, I guess, of getting about 10 miles a day, using about 80% of that, and driving a more moderate 10000 per year. But it’s still not going to fly amongst people whose cars are already more efficient, or are parked in garages during the day, or who live in areas where fuel isn’t the equivalent of $6.00 per US Gallon (roughly the cost of my last fill-up).

I think I’ll wait, to be honest. I can do better for the money by either changing it for a newer diesel (30mpg minus 30% consumption = 43mpg, easily achievable by a TDi), or making my motorcycle (over 80mpg on work runs) more winterproof.

We may yet reach the point where all cars come with panels on, and said panels actually provide measurable economic and ecological benefit (what of the environmental cost of making and decomissioning them?), but it’s going to be … oh, let’s say a decade at least. Too many variables to figure out. But it’s definitely a net loss for anyone driving in the USA or other cheap-oil nations, and ironically it’s scientists in said places that are best set to really work on and attract investment in furthering solar technology. Until they really work on it, things won’t progress as fast as they could.

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