Ford Will Demo Solar-Charged Car At CES 179
Lucas123 writes "Ford plans to demonstrate its first solar-powered hybrid vehicle at CES next week. The Ford CMAX Solar Energi Concept car will have 1.5 square meters of solar photovoltaic cells on its roof to generate power to charge its battery. By themselves, the PV solar panels generate only 300W of power — not enough to charge the vehicle's battery in one day. Ford, however, said the car will be coupled with a carport that has solar concentrating lens atop it. The magnifying lens, called a Fresnel lens, will concentrate about 10 times the solar energy so the vehicle can be recharged in a single day — the same speed with which a standard hybrid charges using a plug." (Of course, some charge faster than others.)
Re:Do not stare at Fresnel with remaining eye (Score:5, Informative)
As a leaf owner, you know this isn't true.
There's 500+ chargers in my city. I know that in nearly 7,000 miles of electric driving that I've never been more than 5 miles away from a charger. [To be precise, I was, by Google Maps, 5.1 miles away from a charger on Christmas day, when visiting my folks in their retirement community.] I drive places, and I plug in when a public charger is convenient. I took a look at where I drove before I made my decision to get one - and I found that my needs were served by the range offered plus some occasional mileage bumps by public chargers.
There's a week or two after you get your Leaf that you have range anxiety. Once you get to the end of those first few weeks without running out of electricity, you know that unless you're going somewhere strange, your 80 mile range (plus occasional bumps from public chargers) gets the job done.
In-city, 35-mph driving gets you way more than 80, but my real-world, mostly-freeway gets me about 84 -- 3.9miles per kWh.]
And I'd bet you have access to another gas powered car which you use for anything even close to your maximum range.
I drove to Albuquerque last month. I rented a car.
Look: Some people drive in places and in ways where a Leaf isn't a practical vehicle for them. They shouldn't buy one. I'm not one of those people.