Kobe Bryan Saquicela

English 21007

4-14-19

A 5kw solar array with a 14kwh tesla power wall battery costs an average of 19,000. This is an asset for the company since it will last 25 years and gives clean, renewable energy to power your electric car. This will be the company’s station distributed across America for our clients to charge their cars.  The electric car itself would cost around 25,000 – 30,000. The 180 watt solar panel on top of the sunroof of the vehicle will cost an addition of 4,000. This will be one of the most affordable and energy efficient cars to hit the market in 2019. Due to the fact that it is powered through solar energy, it allows the clients to waste less money on fuel. It is averaged that the total spent on fuel for a solar panel car is $700 whereas for gas it is more than $1, 000. The way that the car will work is through two ways. There will be solar panel charging stations distributed across America for users to recharge their cars and also the solar panels on the sunroof will power the secondary battery pack.

 Solar energy is created through photovoltaic effect. Due to the semiconductor silicon and the conductor silver it is able to create electricity from sun rays. Since silicon is a nonmetal with a conductive property, it is able to convert sunlight into electricity. When light interacts with silicon, electrons are set into motion which initiates flow of electricity. Monocrystalline is the most efficient cell structure of silicon since they are produced from one large silicon block and are produced into silicon wafer formats. Manufacturing process involves cutting individual wafers of silicon that can be attached into the solar plane. Therefore, in a photovoltaic cell, there are two layers, a positive and negative electrode. The conductor silver must be between the two layers to keep the temperature low and generate the most energy. Trick to maximizing efficiency is to match properties of semiconductors to distribution of energy coming from the sun, make the panels face south and have the panels be at an optimal angle for greater production.

 Since the car will be electric, it will allow the energy created by the solar panel to be stored into the battery pack. The car will be electric meaning its most important components are the lithium ion battery pack and the invertor. The invertor is in charge of converting the battery pack electricity of DC to AC. The lithium ion battery pack is one of the greatest innovations of the past years. Lithium ion cells are set in a series and parallel metallic inner tubes set gaps between the cells. Therefore, glycol coolant is used to be placed in between the gaps between the cells to prevent thermal hot spots. Therefore, our car will charge at a quicker rate and the miles per gallon would greatly increase.

In terms of the solar panel on top of the car, it will have many benefits. While the solar panel’s electricity doesn’t aid directly in moving the car forward, the solar panel allows the accessory battery to take less power from the main bank of batteries (therefore leaving more electricity for the motor to use), increasing the range of the car. Therefore, the electricity produced by the panels is used to power the electric vehicle’s driving batteries.

The main purpose of the vehicle is to expand the world knowledge on solar energy and the effect it could have on our future. Since petroleum is a scarce resource, we must find various options to replace gas just in case it because finite. Our plan as a company is to sell our cars globally, to markets including Asia, Europe and South America.