EuropeLeonardo Da VinciEducation Culture
Partners
Alfano Primo DIMEC E.R.F.A.P. ElettroSannio Budapest University of Tecnology and Economics Universite de Haute Alsace Dunarea de Jos  University Galati Istanbul Teknik Universitesi PST Auto Consulting DIIIE
Graphics by Marco Coraggio
Timeline
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission
Untitled Document
Red Links: Search on Wikipedia
Untitled Document

Hybrid Solar Vehicles

G.Rizzo (*)
(*) DIMEC, University of Salerno

Summary

Hybrid Solar Vehicle comes up by integrating the hybrid car concept with Photo-Voltaic panels. This solution can enhance the benefits of Hybrid Electric vehicles thanks to the recourse to solar energy, free and largely diffused. Some prototypes recently developed are presented in the following.

Prototypes of HSV

Viking 23

Viking 23 was one of many solar vehicles built (August 1994) at Vehicle Research Institute - Western Washington University.

Viking 23
Vehicle body

The features of this vehicle are:

  • BODY:Carbon fiber with solar array upper panels.
  • CHASSIS:Carbon fiber monocoque with aluminum or steel reinforcements at mounting points.
  • BATTERIES:11 kW hours of SAFT NiCad batteries charged by either the solar cells or household current.
  • I.C. ENGINE:Daihatsu, 993cc, 3 cylinder fuel injected single overhead cam, fueled by reformulated gasoline.
  • ELECTRIC MOTOR:Two Unique Mobility brushless D.C. motors driving the front wheels through a gearbox.
  • RANGE:70 miles in zero emission mode at city speeds and approximately 400 miles at highway speeds.

http://vri.etec.wwu.edu/viking_23.htm

Solar Prius

A photovoltaic kit will be commercialized by an American company to be installed on the Toyota Prius, the car symbol of the ecologists.

A prototype of "Solar" Prius

According to Solatec, cars equipped with solar panels, increase their authonomy of 10% ca. After testing it on a prototype driven with different weather conditions, the kit was sold at 2.195 dollars. The 30 watt panels are fixed on the top with sticky tape and recharge the batteries of the hybrid system by means of a special power supplier switching the sun rays while driving or simply parking.

http://www.repubblica.it/2005/l/motori/dicembre05/superprius/superprius.html

Oxiana

A prototype of hybrid solar car (Oxiana), built by the italian company Veicoli within an educational project, run for about 3000 km in Central Asia in 1997.

The Oxiana Prototype

http://www.veicoli.org/oxiana2.html

Prototype at Tokyo Institute of Technology

A prototype of electric hybrid car with PV panels has been developed at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology. Further PV panels were installed on the top of a building to recharge batteries. Car weight increased of 350 Kg. Gasoline engine was used when speed was over 20 km/h, while electric driving was adopted when speed become less than 15 Km/h.

Scheme of the Hybrid Solar Car developed at Tokyo Institute of Technology
Vehicle management during a driving cycle

Ultra Commuter

A very advanced prototype of HSV (Ultra Commuter) has been recently developed at the Queensland University, adopting a hybrid series structure.

The Ultra-Commuter

The car is equipped with 2.5 square metres of solar panels with 375 Watts. In sunny weather the Ultra Commuter can travel up to 60 km a day on solar power alone. A 360V Li-Ion battery pack extends this to 200 km. A compressed natural gas powers a 10 kW generator to feed batteries, producing a total range of 500 km. The car is propelled by two 75 kW motors that sit inside the rear wheels.

Link

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2005/04/solar_electric_.html

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2005/08/solarpoweraugme.html

http://www.veicoli.org/oxiana2.html

http://vri.etec.wwu.edu/viking_23.htm

Top - Previous Module - Next Module