Future Vehicles will Run with Solar Energy

The practical usable solar electric vehicle (EV) was developed, and road test of this system for weather condition were conducted on city roads in Tokyo.

In this system, solar energy is converted into electric energy with two types of the photovoltaic (solar) cell, then the output is stored in the storage battery mounted on the EV. This battery-stored electricity is used in driving the motor and propelling the EV. This report describes results of these tests.

The main solar cells (=0.7kWp), made of polycrystalline Si, are mounted on the roof of a private house. The sub-solar cells (=80Wp), made of amorphous or single crystal Si, are mounted on the EV.