Solar-powered campervan -- what is the state of the art?

dorian · Guru

Solar-powered campervan -- what is the state of the art?

Whenarewethere · Guru

If only it could handle the Gibb River Road.

dorian · Guru

'World's first off-road solar SUV' just drove across Morocco powered only by the sun:

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/stella-terra-off-road-solar-powered-suv-morocco-hnk-spc/index.html

"Morocco has a huge variety of landscapes and different surfaces in quite a short distance," says Bosman, adding that the car was tested "on every type of surface that a car like this could encounter."

Are We Lost · Guru

I don't see anything special about that. A vehicle built for the purpose and the trip matched to its capabilities.

There is a lack of detail so it is difficult to assess with any useful results. They say lightweight so presumably that means very light. I think the SUV should be in inverted commas because it is not what we would typically call an SUV.

Doing some figures. No doubt the battery is sized to suit the target distance. Assuming an efficiency of better than 10kWh per 100km, that means it could be doable on a small 50kWh battery with help from the sun on the way.

From the article: "In cloudy conditions, the team estimates the range could be 50 kilometers less. "

For solar, being generous, there may be 6 square metres of solar panels on the vehicle. Again being generous, this could generate 1.2kW of charge. Even if it could generate that for 12 hours during the day, that means 14.4kWh per day. So that would take maybe 4 days or more to recharge for the return trip.

They don't say what speed or how long it took.

jegog · Senior Member

Well I think that this is a fantastic achievement. Why the comments detract and question this is beyond me. Something like this would be ideal for the many grey nomads who just want to experience Australia. Not as good for racing from Cairns to Geelong in the quickest time. But for meandering from town to town to national park and only needing to buy food and drink would be heaven. The only thing that might be a problem is the dust accumulating on the panels.

Are We Lost · Guru

My comments were based mainly on the desert crossing. Put the right size battery in any EV and it can do that.

As for the campervan in Europe I accept that it's better. But where can I put my diesel heater and gas bottle so I can cook? biggrin

Of course, I note there is a BBQ on the grass, probably charcoal. But yes, it could have an application that would suit some.

-- Edited by Are We Lost on Thursday 19th of October 2023 01:43:05 PM

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

Hybrid would be my choice . Gives options !! When your 2000 Ks away from civilisation !

Are We Lost · Guru

Aus-Kiwi wrote:
Hybrid would be my choice . Gives options !! When your 2000 Ks away from civilisation !

I agree. I used to have a dual fuel car .... LPG and petrol. Same concept. I always ran it on LPG, leaving the the petrol as reserve .... about 150km range in that.

If developments improved the hybrid concept I would be tempted myself. But the manufacturers aren't following that path. For reasonable performance you need two capable systems. Expensive, and takes too much space to have a (mostly) redundant second propulsion system.