Mohseen Karche

12/08/2015

Final Project Report

Solar power in Transportation

Introduction:
This report contains detailed analysis to answer a question as to whether
solar power as the energy source for transportation is actually practical or
impractical. Solar energy is abundantly available though harnessing this energy is
difficult with very inefficient and costly solar panels available today. Even though
the efficiency of panels is increasing steadily and cost is decreasing rapidly
concentration of the solar power might not be adequate to make it a viable option
for the automobile application. In this report I have tried to analyze some of
these facts based on available data and a few calculations.
To begin with, this report describes as to why should we bother considering
the solar power as future alternative and moves on to the present scenario of solar
power generation and solar technology in general. The current applications or
concepts of solar power for transportation have also been discussed. The viability
of these applications has been technically analyzed based on available
data on the internet and some calculations. During the study I came across
some very interesting futuristic concepts for the application of solar power which
have been discussed as well.
The report concludes with my views regarding the viability of the solar power
for transportation.
Why solar power?
Solar energy is a renewable source of energy. We will have access to solar
energy for as long as the sun is alive another 6.5 billion years according to
NASA.
Solar power is most abundantly available in nature. A 1997 report by the United
States Department of Energy found available domestic solar energy (including
biomass) technically accessible regardless of cost amounted to 586,687
Quadrillion BTUs (Quads); 95% of this was biomass. Coal represented the
second largest resource, a distant 38,147 Quads.
The annual energy potential from solar energy is 23,000 TWy. Energy
potential from total recoverable reserves of coal is 900 TWy. For petroleum, its
240 TWy; and for natural gas, its 215 TWy. Wind energys yearly energy
potential is 2570 TWy.
A 2012 report from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory described
technically available renewable energy resources for each state and estimated
that urban utility scale photovoltaics could supply 2,232 TWh/year, rural
utility scale PV 280,613 TWh/year, rooftop PV 818 TWh/year, and CSP
116,146 TWh/year, for a total of almost 400,000 TWh/year, 100 times
current consumption of 3,856 TWh in 2011.

The most prominent sectors for GHG emissions in US are the electric power
industry (33%), followed by transportation (28%), then industry (20%), and
commercial and residential combined (11%). Solar power is a possible
alternative for all these sectors. The GHG emissions from solar energy are almost
zero. It is estimated that if people switched from conventional fossil fuel-burning
power plants to solar cells, air pollution would be cut by roughly 90
percent. This makes it a very lucrative alternate energy option.

However, it is a fact that it takes energy to save energy. The term "energy
payback" captures this idea. Energy in some for or the other is utilized for
manufacturing the solar cells and setting up the solar power plants. This energy
utilization generates to Co2 emissions and pollution during the making of the
system. Energy payback estimates for rooftop PV systems are 4, 3, 2, and 1
years: 4 years for systems using current multicrystalline-silicon PV modules, 3
years for current thin-film modules, 2 years for anticipated multicrystalline
modules, and 1 year for anticipated thin-film modules. With energy paybacks
of 1 to 4 years and assumed life expectancies of 30 years, 87% to 97%
of the energy that PV systems generate won't be plagued by pollution,
greenhouse gases, and depletion of resources.
With today's commercial systems, the solar energy resource in a 100-by-100mile area of Nevada could supply the United States with all of its electricity. If
these systems were distributed to the 50 states, the land required from each
state would be an area of about 17 by 17 miles. This area is available now from
parking lots, rooftops, and vacant land. In fact, 90% of America's current
electricity needs could be supplied with solar electric systems built on the
estimated 5 million acres of abandoned industrial sites in our nation's cities.

If we compare solar energy with other renewable alternatives in terms of total

watts per unit area it can be seen that if there was way to apply PV directly to
transportation it would offer more than 10X improvement over any other
biomass alternative.

Present scenario of solar power:

Presently solar energy plays a very insignificant role in the total energy sector and
almost no presence in transportation sector. There are a very few practical
applications of solar energy in automobile or transport and most of the applications
are just concepts and not yet commercialized.
Even though the amount of utility-scale solar electricity capacity in the US has
increased in recent yearsrising from 334 megawatts in 1997 to
6,623 megawatts in 2013. Today, solar energy provides 0.4% percent of
the total energy consumed in the United States. It is the least among the
renewable sources of hydroelectric, biomass, wind and solar.
The above statistic ignores the rooftop solar panels and other solar lighting in
the residential and commercial sectors. If these were included the total solar
generated electricity in the US could represent a larger, but still small share.

Approximately 66% of installed world solar PV power capacity has been

installed in the past 2 years. Furthermore, total installed capacity is
projected to double in the coming 2 years.

Global solar PV power capacity grew from about 2.2 GW in 2002 to 100 GW
in 2012. From 2007 to 2012, it grew 10 times over, from 10 GW to 100 GW.
Germany accounted for nearly one third of global solar PV capacity at the end of
2012. Italy (16%) and Germany (32%) combined accounted for nearly
half of global solar PV capacity.

The price of solar PV panels dropped about 100 times over from 1977 to 2012.
Since 2008, the price of solar PV panels has dropped about 80%.
Under laboratory conditions and with current state-of-the-art technology, it is
possible to produce single crystal silicon solar cells close to 25% efficient.
However, commercially mass produced cells are typically only 13-14%
efficient.

The price of solar PV panels dropped about 100 times over from 1977 to
2012. Since 2008, the price of solar PV panels has dropped about 80%.

Saudi Arabian power company ACWE, with some $24 billion in assets, set a world
record low for the price of solar in the worlds largest tender. Its CEO, Paddy
Padmanathan, told RenewEconomy in an interview on Monday that the price of
solar will fall by at least a third in coming years. He expects at least half of the
140,000GW of power capacity to be installed in the Middle East and north Africa
in the coming decade to be solar.
Padmanathan predicts that solar could extend its reach of grid parity to 80
per cent of global markets within the next two years, assuming a 40 per
cent cut in solar costs by the end of 2017.

In the US, photovoltaic (PV) panels will see an average of 45 hours per day of
full sun, so the effective capacity of solar power generation is 4.5/24, or about
20%. In 2011, statistics showed that US installed solar power, PV and thermal,
totaled 4.9 GW, which produced 7454 GWh of energy. If the sun were always

overhead, the installed capacity of 4.9 GW would have produced 4.9 x 24 x

365=42924 GW hours, so the actual production was 18%.
Solar power application in transportation:
There is a little doubt over the viability of solar power for future electricity
generation; however the viability of solar power for transportation is still not
established. There have been a few experimental applications and a very select few
and almost non significant commercial applications as well.
Solar cars:
Similar to solar powered homes, solar powered cars utilize the solar energy by
converting it into electricity. This electricity fuels the battery that runs the car's
motor. Some cars direct the power straight to an electric motor. Great examples
of the latest solar powered cars are the University of Michigan solar car, the MIT
solar car, and the Berkeley solar car.
The first solar "cars" were actually tricycles or Quadra cycles built with bicycle
technology. These were called solarmobiles at the first solar race, the Tour
de Sol in Switzerland in 1985.
Solar cars have been developed in the last twenty years and are powered by
energy from the sun. Although they are not a practical or economic form of
transportation at present.
The advantages of solar power in transportation include reduced noise
and air pollution.
A French company called venturi has come up with a care in which there are
solar panels attached to the roof that generate power along with a available 300
watt wind turbine that is good for 8 miles when it's breezy. The cars top speed is
28 Mph. To provide power after sundown there is on board charger. The charger
is powered by batteries and can go a distance of 31 miles in five hours. As many
as 3,000 units will be produced each year at a new Venturi factory near Sablsur-Sarthe, France. The cars will be priced around $20,700.
The Toyota Prius is the closest you can get to a solar car for the masses. It
features a hybrid electric-gasoline engine, automatic self-parking, and solar
panels to power its air-conditioning system. Though the solar panels cant be
used to power the entire vehicle a U.S. company called SEV has demonstrated a
modified, solar-powered Prius that improves fuel economy by about
29%. According to SEV, this gives you a daily electric-only range of 20 miles.
eVe is the worlds fastest electric car with speed of 107 km/hr over 500km and
in 2015 will become the first road legal solar sports car in Australia. The solar
panels on the roof feed directly into a battery. 5 hours charging on a sunny day
gives us 160 km of range. There is also a high efficiency li-ion battery that allows
a travel of 500km. The batteries can be completely recharged in 10 hours using
a standard household power socket or in less than 7 hours using a commercial
power socket.
Tindo electric bus in Adelaide is the worlds first 100% solar-powered electric
bus. It is not a conventional solar vehicle as in it has no solar panels attached to
it. It is in fact an electric bus which receives power from the solar panel located
on city central bus station. This provides enough energy to allow the bus to run

freely from the city centre and the North Adelaide, and will also offer air
conditioning and WiFi to its 40 passengers.

A pod car system system is being designed in Uppsala, Sweden. It is actually a

solar powered PRT system. A beamway covered with a PV system averaging 2 m
wide along its full extended length, based on patented designs and a 400 kW PV
overhead canopy recently built in California will have a fleet of podcars
suspended under it. As per the preliminary calculations for a 3.8 km route the
grid-connected system will produce sufficient electricity to power about 7,000
trips per day. Number of trips will be fewer in the winter but they can be
compensated by the sufficient surplus in summer. Payback for the solar
energy component is anticipated to be less than 5 years, without
subsidies.
Calculations:
Generation:
3,800 m long * 2 m wide * 143 w/m^2 = 1,087 kW
1,087 kW * 900 kWh/kW/year 365 = 2,680 kWh/day.
Load: 6,700 trips/day * 0.4 kWh/trip = 2,680 kWh/day.
Simple economic payback for the solar energy system component is anticipated
to be less than 5 years, without subsidies:
Solar capital cost: 1,087 kW * 4.00 $/W = $4.3 million
Gasoline, operating cost for equivalent travel:
2 km/trip * 6,700 trips/day * $2/liter 10 kM/liter = = $2,680/day
Payback time: $4.3 million $2,680/day 365 days/year = 4.4 years
Payback in the USA would be about the same. Even though the cost of
fuel would be about half as high, the solar production would be about
twice as much as in Sweden.

The USA has 4.3 million km (2.7 m miles) of paved roads.(8) A podcar network 4
meters wide and 1 million miles (1.6 m km) long, about 37% of the paved
road in the USA, would produce a terawatt of electricity. Based on an
average solar capacity factor of about 20%, this network would produce around
1,800 TeraWatt-hours per year o half of the 3,700 TWh of electricity generated in
the USA.
Few Marine applications:
Japan's biggest shipping line Nippon Yusen KK and Nippon Oil Corporation said
solar panels capable of generating 40 kilowatts of electricity would be placed on
top of a 60,213 ton car carrier ship to be used by Toyota Motor Corporation.
In 2010, the Tranor PlanetSolar, a 30 metre long, 15.2 metre
wide catamaran yacht powered by 470 square metres of solar panels, was
unveiled. It is, so far, the largest solar-powered boat ever built. ] In 2012,
PlanetSolar became the first ever solar electric vehicle to circumnavigate the
globe.

Solar Power for Transport is it viable?

As we have seen in the above discussions solar power certainly has merits
and great efforts are being made to ensure the utilization of these merits. However
as can be deduced for the above data, most of the discussed applications are
merely experimental. There is no significant commercial potential application of
solar power in transportation in the horizon. So the question that naturally props up
is use of solar power really a viable option?
The case of solar power for personal vehicles:At a normal Freeway speeds (30 m/s, or 67 m.p.h.), and for the ability to seat
four people comfortably we would need a frontal area of at least 2m2. The
minimum drag co-efficient 0.2.
Considering the above values Fdrag = /cDAv =250 Newtons (about 55 lbs).
Work=Forcexdistance, therefore to propel the car at 30m/s 7,500 J of energy will be
needed. This is the amount of energy needed per second, i.e. Watts = 7,500
Watts~=10Hp. This calculation neglects the rolling resistance. If we consider
the rolling resistance, which is about 0.01 times the weight of the car for a superlight loaded mass of 600 kg (6000 N), rolling resistance adds a 60 N constant
force, requiring an additional 1800 W for a total of about 9 kW.
Let us consider the panel efficiency of 30% (Twice the efficiency of the
panels currently available in market, PV panels in lab have efficiency of
20-25%).
In full, overhead sun, solar flux= 1,000 W/m =300 W for each square meter of
panel.
As per the above assumptions, 30 sqm of panels will be needed to propel the
vehicle. The top of a normal car has well less than 10 square meters
available.
Assuming we manage to get 2 kW of instantaneous power, considering the car in
the above example the cruising speed achievable on the flats would be about
16 m/s (35 m.p.h.).

In the case of climb the car could lift itself up a grade at only 0.33 m/s (6000 J to lift
the car one meter, 2000 J/s of power available). At a 5 percent grade the car would
slow down to 6.7 m/s, or 15 miles per hourin full sun.
As can be seen from the above data family car being run directly and
smoothly by solar power seems an impractical dream.
Analysis of some production models as examples, the Volt, Leaf, and Tesla
carry batteries rated at 16, 24, and 53 kWh, respectively:
Lets assume we have installed PV panels to provide the required power and
allowable charging time as one day. A typical location in the continental U.S.
receives an average of 5 full-sun hours per day.
This means that factoring in day/night, angle of the sun, season, and weather, a
typical panel will gather as much energy in a day as it would have if the high-noon
sun persisted for five hours.
To charge the Volt, then, would require an array capable of 3kW of peak
power.
The Tesla would require a 10 kW array to provide a daily charge.
A typical electric car requires about 30 kWh per 100 miles driven. Avg daily
miles driven = 30 miles, therefore 10kWh will be needed for a daily trip. This will
require a 2 kW PV system.
Cost Analysis:
For 30 miles per day with 40mpg efficiency for the vehicle annual gas cost would be
1000$.
Present cost of PV panel $4 per watt. Hence, for 2kW system cost= $8000.
Payback for the gas prices = 8 years.
Alternately if we consider the scenario where we could charge the car battery by
plugging it to battery bank charged by solar power and have several days of reliable
juice, battery bank of 3050 kWh will be needed. At $100 per kWh for lead-acid, this
adds something like $4,000 to the cost of your system. Considering the low life of
battery and assuming they last 35 years and the fact that bigger bank has
shallower cycles, and will therefore tolerate more of these and last longer, but for
higher up-front cost. The net effect is that the stationary battery bank will
cost about $1,000 per year which is equal to the fuel cost.
Sun Swift solar car (eve):
The eve car discussed in the above applications of car cost approximately $500,000
Technical Specification (eve)
Weight
299.371 Kg
Length: 4.5 metres (15 ft)
Dimensions
Width: 1.8 metres (5 ft 11 in)
Height: 1.1 metres (3 ft 7 in)
4-square-metre (43 sq ft) permanent array
Solar
with a 2-square-metre (22 sq ft) auxiliary
Cells/Array
array. All cells are monocrystalline silicon with
an approximate efficiency of 23%

Chassis

Carbon fiber monocoque with foam and an

aramid honeycomb core

Maximum
speed

Achieved: 132 kilometres per hour (82 mph)

Theoretical: 140 kilometres per hour
(87 mph)
Battery Power 20 kilowatt-hours (72 MJ)

Example of Practical application:

There are certain vehicle applications where a PV roof could be self-sustaining. Golf
carts that can get up to 25 m.p.h. (40 km/h) is one such example. It can be useful
for neighborhood errands, or for transport within a small community. They are
lightweight and slow. They require 15 kWh per 100 miles. Because travel distances
are presumably small, we can assume distance of within 10 miles per day, requiring
1.5 kWh of input per day. With a 5 kWh battery it can store three days worth right
in the cart. At an average of five full-sun hours per day, we need 300 W of
generating capacity, which we can achieve with 2 square meters of 15 percent
efficient PV panel.
Some more figures:
If oil declines at 4% per year and solar PV installations experience very high growth
at 50% per year, it would take 10-15 years for solar to begin to make a dent against
anticipated decline in oil production.

We can safely deduce from the above calculations that solar power for
transportation is definitely not a cost effective option at present. It is not viable for

the private transport. However as the cost of the panels drops down and the cost of
fossil fuels shoots up use of solar power as a source of energy for public transport
might be practical. Economics of scale and possible government intervention
in this case make it favorable and viable option.
Environmental Factors:
While solar power certainly is less polluting than fossil fuels, some problems do
exist. Some manufacturing processes are associated with greenhouse gas
emissions.
Nitrogen trifluroide and sulfur hexafluoride has been traced back to the
production of solar panels. These are some of the most potent greenhouse gases
and have many thousand times the impact on global warming compared to
carbon dioxide.
Nitrogen trifluoride is 17,000 times more virulent than CO2, and SF6, the most
treacherous greenhouse gas, is over 23,000 times more threatening.
Transportation and installation of solar power systems can also indirectly cause
pollution.
Certain solar cells require materials that are expensive and rare in nature. This is
especially true for thin-film solar cells that are based on either cadmium telluride
(CdTe) or copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS).
Most estimates of life-cycle emissions for photovoltaic systems are between
0.07 and 0.18 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent per kilowatt-hour.
Most estimates for concentrating solar power range from 0.08 to 0.2 pounds of
carbon dioxide equivalent per kilowatt-hour. In both cases, this is far less than
the lifecycle emission rates for natural gas (0.6-2 lbs of CO2E/kWh) and coal
(1.4-3.6 lbs of CO2E/kWh).

Future of solar power in transportation:

Car on a stick (entirely conceptual):
This is a conceptual 4 person car driven by solar power. Instead of taking up parking
space when not in use this car parks itself on a stick and acts like street light.
Jpods:
The best way to describe JPods, a new form of public transit soon to be tested in
New Jersey, is "something out of the Jetsons." At least that's how one city official
described the solar-powered pods, which are a combination of light rail and selfdriving car suspended above roads. Imagine something like a ski lift running above
our existing streets and you're getting close to the right mental image.
The pods essentially operate as mini, personal trains.
They travel point-to-point along the rail network to the destination you input via
an interactive touch screen. With more stations and switch points than a
commuter rail or subway network, JPods can get a traveler much closer to their
intended destination than mass transit.
The rails are covered with solar panel collectors, which supply self-sustaining
power to the entire system.
The solar panels above the rails will ensure that the network is always able to
sustain itself, no matter how large it grows.

Solar Road ways:

A Whopping $1.38 Million Crowdfunded For Solar Roads
The Solar Roadways will collect solar energy to power businesses and homes via
structurally-engineered solar panels that are driven upon, to be placed in parking
lots and roadways in lieu of petroleum-based asphalt surfaces.

Some of the features of this concept include:

Embedded LEDs which "paint" the road lines from beneath to provide safer
nighttime driving.
Embedded heating elements in the surface to prevent snow and ice buildup,
providing for safer winter driving.
Intelligent highway that will double as a secure, intelligent, decentralized, selfhealing power grid which will enable a gradual weaning from fossil fuels.
Fully electric vehicles will be able to recharge along the roadway and
in parking lots, finally making electric cars practical for long trips.
Estimated that is will take roughly five billion (a stimulus package in
itself) 12' by 12' Solar Road Panels to cover the asphalt surfaces in the
U.S. alone, allowing us to produce three times more power than we've ever
used as a nation - almost enough to power the entire world.
Some figures:
If we use solar cells that have a mere 15% efficiency and average only 4 hours
of peak daylight hours per day (4 x 365 = 1460 hours per year).
Considering a 200 Watt solar panel rated at 15% efficiency form a one of the
manufacturer. Its surface area is 15.16 square feet. If we covered the entire
25,000 square miles of impervious surfaces with solar collection panels, we'd
get:
((25,000 mi) x (5280 ft / mi)) / (200W/15.16 ft) =((25,000 mi) x (27,878,400 ft / mi))
/ (200W/15.16 ft) =

(696960000000 ft) / (200W/15.16 ft) = 9194722955145.118733509234828496 Watts

9.19 Billion Kw.

If we average only 4 hours of peak daylight hours (1460 hours per year), this
gives us: 9.19 Billion Kilowatts x 1460 hours =
13424295514511873.350923482849604 Kilowatt-hours (or) 13,424 Billion
Kilowatt-hours of electricity.
The average cost of asphalt roads in 2006 was roughly $16 per square foot. The
cost does not include maintenance (pot hole repair, repainting lines, etc.) or
snow/ice removal. The average lane width is 12 feet, so a 4 lane highway would
be 12' (width per lane) x 4 (lanes) x 5280' (one mile) = 253440 square feet.
Multiply this by $16 per square foot and your one-mile stretch of asphalt
highway will cost $4,055,040.00 and will last an average of seven
years.
It is planned to design the Solar Roadway to last at least 21 years
(three times that of asphalt roads), at which time the panels would need to be
refurbished. Adding no additional cost to the current asphalt system, this will
allow us to invest about $48 ($16 x 3) per square foot. This means that if each
individual panel can be made for no more than $6912.00, then the
Solar Roadway can be built for the same cost as current asphalt roads.

Conclusion:
In my opinion based on the study done solar power is definitely the most enticing
source of renewable energy in the long run. However I dont see solar power making
a major dent in the energy distribution in at least next 10 years. The progress in
solar technology is very encouraging but the market dynamics and cost is
hampering the practical application.
Specifically for the transportation segment solar energy is
theoretically the solution for all problems, but the solution is obtained by
assuming unrealistic values for many involved variables.
As seen from the calculation completely and directly solar powered personal car can
be termed as myth. However with when coupled with battery storage though costly
might work. Considering these facts I believe as the cost of the panels drops down
(22% cost reduction per doubling of production volume) and the cost of fossil fuels
shoots up use of solar power as a source of energy for public transport might be
practical. Economics of scale and possible government intervention in this case
make it favorable and viable option.
The bottom line is this: Theres nothing thats completely risk-free in the
energy world, but solar power compares very favorably with all other
technologies.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_car
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/adelaide-creates-worlds-first-solar-poweredpublic-transport-system-32530
http://www.ecotopia.com/ases/solar2012/ases2012prt100pctsolar.pdf
http://cleantechnica.com/2015/01/29/solar-costs-will-fall-40-next-2-years-heres/
http://www.pveducation.org/pvcdrom/design/efficiency-and-cost

http://mediamatters.org/research/2013/01/24/myths-and-facts-about-solarenergy/192364#pollution
http://energyinformative.org/solar-energy-pros-and-cons/#renewable
http://www.solarroadways.com
http://www.fastcompany.com/3034687/new-jersey-is-testing-solar-power-commuterpods
http://www.abb-conversations.com/2013/12/7-impressive-solar-energy-facts-charts/
http://physics.ucsd.edu/do-the-math/2011/11/a-solar-powered-car/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_vehicle