{"id":56450,"date":"2022-01-03T11:00:59","date_gmt":"2022-01-03T00:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=56450"},"modified":"2022-01-03T11:00:59","modified_gmt":"2022-01-03T00:30:59","slug":"electric-cars-solar-roofs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/electric-cars-solar-roofs\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Don’t All Electric Cars Have Solar Roofs?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Solar

Image: Edison Future<\/p><\/div>\n

It makes sense to install solar panels on homes, but does it make sense to put solar on cars?<\/p>\n

At the time of writing, major electric car manufacturers, such as Tesla and Nissan, don’t offer solar PV on their vehicles.<\/p>\n

This looks like a wasted opportunity. \u00a0In Australia, solar panels integrated into cars at the factory would easily pay for itself. At least for anyone who regularly parks in the sun.<\/p>\n

But there are sound engineering and economic reasons why solar cells aren’t a standard inclusion on electric cars yet.<\/p>\n

There’s also a secret, dirty reason why EV manufacturers don’t want solar cells on their cars.<\/p>\n

While car-integrated solar is very rare right now, the situation is changing.\u00a0 Many new entrants in the EV market offer solar PV either as an option or even a standard feature.<\/p>\n

In this article, I’ll explain how integrated solar can — in Australia at least — provide a respectable amount of energy.\u00a0 I’ll also point out how, for a significant number of people, integrated solar panels will provide minimal benefit.\u00a0 I’ll also reveal the dirty secret explaining why manufacturers don’t want solar panels on their EVs, but you’ll have to read to the end to find out.\u00a0 Sure, you could skip ahead to the subheading that says “Dirty Secret Reason”, but I don’t recommend it because I’m not sure you’re prepared to know the full truth just yet.<\/p>\n

\"Solar

No Finn, this isn’t the sort of EV PV I’m talking about. I’m referring to putting solar on ordinary electric cars for everyday use by people who aren’t nutters like us.<\/p><\/div>\n

PV On EV Pros & Cons<\/h2>\n

PV stands for photovoltaics<\/a>.\u00a0 So when you put solar cells on an electric vehicle, you get EV PV.<\/p>\n

EV PV should give plenty of advantages:<\/p>\n