Impact of climatic conditions on prospects for integrated photovoltaics in electric vehicles

Christian Thiel, Ana Gracia Amillo, Alessandro Tansini, Anastasios Tsakalidis, Georgios Fontaras, Ewan Dunlop, Nigel Taylor, Arnulf Jäger-Waldau, Kenji Araki, Kensuke Nishioka, Yasuyuki Ota and Masafumi Yamaguchi

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2022, vol. 158, issue C

Abstract: Integrated photovoltaics are an emerging technology which can extend the range of electric vehicles. However, up to now there is a lack of a consensus method that would provide consumers with an estimate of the fraction of annual driving which could be covered by solar power generated onboard in different usage scenarios and locations. To address this, we assess the energy implications of vehicle integrated photovoltaics for a commuter car and light delivery van for six climatic regions and for typical daily usage profiles over a ten-year period. The analysis captures the energy needs for driving and cabin temperature control to an unprecedented level of detail. Our results reveal that the grid power needed to drive such vehicles on identical routes can vary by more than 44% between climate regions. In the best case the solar power generated can cover up to 35% of the driving range per year. This contribution can vary by a factor of 2.5 between different climates, from 1800 to 5100 km annually, considerably mitigating the effect of ambient conditions on electric range. We propose developing consumer labels for solar electric vehicles that would consider this variation according to climatic conditions. The method described in this paper could help to frame initial discussions for such labels. We identify further requirements for research and development, standardisation, and policy needs.

Keywords: Vehicle integrated photovoltaics; Electric vehicles; Simulation; Climatic conditions; Energy efficiency; Solar electric range (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2022.112109

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