SOLAR POWER IN CARS

Solar energy is one of the many renewable sources of energy that is used for fueling vehicles, running consumer products and for the efficient running of homes and business establishments. Solar power is harnessed with the help of solar cells and solar panels which are placed in the item that has to be powered.

The solar car is something that is envisioned to materialize in the future, with some countries already having solar cars racing across countries.
With this, it is proven that it is viable to indeed produce and manufacture solar power cars in bulk, in the near future so that everyone will soon own a solar power car.

Of course, once solar power cars are manufactured, it does not implicate that all other fuel sources for cars on highways will be removed. All that is done in solar power cars is the supplementation of traditional fuel with solar energy so that you save not only on your economy, but also save the environment in more ways than one every year.

The solar power cars that are used in races today run only on solar power, and thus look odd in appearance. This is because these cars are designed in such a way that they can collect maximum solar energy with which it is possible for the car to gain the required speed and desired efficiency.

The solar cells used in solar power cars are large, and usually cover the entire vehicle. However in case of commercial uses, solar cells are much smaller and designed so that the vehicle not only looks attractive, but is also efficient in its functioning. Solar cars can be used for short commutes in town as these cars can work only on solar energy.

The batteries found in the vehicle stores excess solar power so that this power can be used when solar power is not available on demand like on cloudy days and at nighttime. The engines found in these solar power cars are very much like the engines found in electric cars found today. In addition to this, the cars are lightweight, so that solar power can be used more efficiently.

At present, there are many types of solar power cars in the development stage today, which are also available for sale. However as these cars are in the developmental stage, the car is not available to the general public. With so many benefits found in solar power cars, its cost will not be much higher than the cost of the traditionally powered vehicles of today.

Another benefit of solar power cars is there is no hassle of stopping at gas stations for gas nor is there the need of getting worried of rising gasoline costs. With a solar power car, you save on the money that you would have otherwise have needed for buying fuel to run your car. In addition to this, with solar power cars you will be doing your bit in stopping global warming problems as there are no fuel emissions from solar power cars.

ADVANCE BATTERY STORAGE

For decades, battery storage technology has been a heavy weight on the back of scientific innovation. From cell phones to electric vehicles, our technological capabilities always seem to be several steps ahead of our ability to power them. Several promising new technologies are currently under development to help power the 21st century, but one small start-up looks especially well positioned to transform the way we think about energy storage.

Texas-based EEStor, Inc. is not exactly proposing a new battery, since no chemicals are used in its design. The technology is based on the idea of a solid state ultra capacitor, but cannot be accurately described in these terms either. Ultra capacitors have an advantage over electrochemical batteries (i.e. lithium-ion technology) in that they can absorb and release a charge virtually instantaneously while undergoing virtually no deterioration. Batteries trump ultra capacitors in their ability to store much larger amounts of energy at a given time.

EEStor’s take on the ultra capacitor — called the Electrical Energy Storage Unit, or EESU — combines the best of both worlds. The advance is based on a barium-titanate insulator claimed to increase the specific energy of the unit far beyond that achievable with today’s ultra capacitor technology. It is claimed that this new advance allows for a specific energy of about 280 watts per kilogram — more than double that of the most advanced lithium-ion technology and a whopping ten times that of lead-acid batteries. This could translate into an electric vehicle capable of traveling up to 500 miles on a five minute charge, compared with current battery technology which offers an average 50-100 mile range on an overnight charge. As if that weren’t enough, the company claims they will be able to mass-produce the units at a fraction the cost of traditional batteries.

“It’s a paradigm shift,” said Ian Clifford of ZENN Motor Co., an early investor and exclusive rights-holder for use of the technology in electric cars. “The Achilles’ heel to the electric car industry has been energy storage. By all rights, this would make internal combustion engines unnecessary.”

But this small electric car company isn’t the only organization banking on the new technology. Lockheed-Martin, the world’s largest defense contractor, has also signed on with EEStor for use of the technology in military applications. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a venture capital investment firm who counts Google and Amazon among their early-stage successes, has also invested heavily in the company.