Honestly it seems like a no-brainer to me to put a solar panel on the roof of electric cars to increase their action radius, so I figured there’s probably one or more good reasons why they don’t.
Also, I acknowledge that a quick google could answer the question, but with the current state of google I don’t want to read AI bullshit. I want an actual answer, and I bet there will be some engineers eager to explain the issues.
There’s two problems with this:
Panels are not free. They cost money to install, weight to move around, and prevent you from a mega-sunroof that most EVs have.
Second, if you think one inconvenient charge per month will make people outside of cities and disparage (for whom EV already offer the most advantages) change their opinion, I think you will be disappointed. Most of them formed their opinion by “but I don’t wanna!”, not by any logical thinking.
This is the exact type of gimmick/bullshit they can utilize to convince people to get over irrational fears. Because people are often irrational when making decisions.
But its also tied directly into the fear of running out of juice in the middle of no where. It not only offers but actually gives people comfort and security. Even its really not meant to actually be used regularily or ever really.
I know one mechanic who has both a Model S and Leaf. He HATES that his model S slowly drains the battery when not used and his leaf does not. And he can explain the difference both why and how. If a company just used that fact to sell their car over any car that also loses charge sitting unused they will absolutely have an advantage for people. Imagine parking your car for weeks and it always being as charged as you left it or more instead of sometimes having to worry if you have a dead car waiting for you because you realized after the fact that you left it with a low charge
I absolutely do think it will change enough minds. I work in the industry from the repair side. But also with people who use their vehicle to pay their wage. I know this can work towards removing that part of the equation because there is a TON of people who dont want EVs to replace ICE and they stoke every dumb fear people have. Having the option, however poorly it performs has always been a net postive as long as it does perform the way its supposed to
Good sales people try to understand what is preventing people from making good choices. Bad ones just lie to you.
Additional costs are exactly what people expect to pay extra for ask in think that’s really a moot point beyond getting the amount in the right ballpark.
I appreciate the long form reasoning, but I disagree. People I’ve met that don’t like EVs, they don’t like EVs first, look for a reason later. There is of course a tiny, minuscule minority that do more than 300 miles of driving a day and cannot spare 15 minutes to charge, but that is well under 0.1% of drivers.
Never said it was people who drive high kms a day that has these concerns.
Seems to me we arent disagreeing on reasoning but about different situations. Such is the way of not speaking face to face though.
If it helps im not just making shit up, i deliver (ive moved up and am low level.operations now) autoparts to repair shops and have heard these complaints for over 10 years.
Its actually quite fascinating how often people drop the concern im trying to discuss once they start using an ev, or personally know someone who has one and they get encouraged by their persons lack of concern about losing a charge.
I think i wouldnt pay extra for the solar panel version if it was a significant extra cost but Maybr if it wasnt too much. (15k for full.self driving which doesnt even transfer to a new owner put the brakes on the failing enthudsiasm i had with tesla when model s was new)