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Comment by agumonkey | Hacker News Reader

I still wonder how better suited to vans the idea is.

Pretty much just as unsuited. Even if a van has 3 times the area available to solar panels it's still a negligible amount of energy...

By the way, the best book and/or course I've read for building intuition for these kinds of questions is "Physics for Future Presidents" by Richard Muller. He used to teach it as a course at CMU and I believe the lecture series is still available to watch or listen to online. Very worthwhile.

I know the amount of energy is small. But IF a company spends time on solar over a normal car, doing so on a van seems 3x better.

Even if it doesn't power the motor, a van can have appliances, tools that can be powered by a .9kW setup (I think that could fit on an average van roof)

Also, they have more flat surface for batteries at the bottom too.

I thought Tesla or Mercedes would have one by now. Diesel generator optional.

They don't because the energy available isn't enough to appreciably add to the range of the vehicle.

To be fair, I am mostly surprised there are not yet EV or hybrid vans, versus PVs on the roof. Seems like stop-and-go, or lots of idling, fleets would benefit signifigantly.

I imagine vans use the battery for more than propulsion, so PVs on the roof might be welcome. Charging from a generator is probably still more cost-effective, except for some niches (e.g. boon-docking). Lots of van-dwellers have PVs on their roof.

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