[Graeme]

Australia's First Solar Powered Car?

The Australian Federal Government has announced the first all-electric car certified to run on Australian roads.

The Mitsubishi- made iMiEV should start rolling off production lines from June this year, but it's still not clear whether the iMiEV will actually be available on the general market in Australia and Mitsubishi hasn't said how much the car will cost.

Mitsubishi produce thin film solar panels, but there are no solar panels on the roof of the iMiEV. However, a grid connect solar power system installed on the home where it is housed could form the basis of it being (in part) a solar powered car. Householders could also elect to switch over to "green power" from their power company to lessen the carbon impact from the electricity required to recharge the vehicle.

http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=392

[Micki]

I doubt it will be solar powered unless indirectly so by having the solar panels on the garage roof.
I don't think the roof space of the car is even big enough to house more panels than to warm up a cup to tea.
Anyway what I always wondered about with the EV's, do they normally have a generator or some kind of limping engine that can take the car home if you run out of battery?

[timmac]

I doubt it will be solar powered unless indirectly so by having the solar panels on the garage roof.
I don't think the roof space of the car is even big enough to house more panels than to warm up a cup to tea.
Anyway what I always wondered about with the EV's, do they normally have a generator or some kind of limping engine that can take the car home if you run out of battery?

Your answer in short there is no on board gen to recharge with all elec cars, one needs to watch how far they drive so they can make it back home, however you could install or carry a small Honda gen if one wanted to but it will take some time to recharge 3-6 hrs, I am thinking of building one myself soon in a small truck, it cost about $5000 for a good conversion.

[kiwichick]

will need a network of battery swap stations and " park and plug " carparks

[Mesuge]

Anyway what I always wondered about with the EV's, do they normally have a generator or some kind of limping engine that can take the car home if you run out of battery?

Speaking of full battery electric vehicles (BEV) NO!
Believe me, once I pushed friends 0% discharged car at 1:30am over
the "very last" hill in the middle of nowhere, supposedly just few yards from his village/house..

shouldn't happen in OEM or EV conversion in tech. good shape and with sane operator