Welcome The Next-Gen Electric Car, One That Recharges Itself Through Solar Energy

As the world shifts towards electric-powered vehicles, there is a looming question that haunts each and every auto maker, which is ¡®how to tackle the range limitations of the vehicles?¡¯ Part of the reason for this are the long time duration required to charge the batteries of EVs. So naturally, alternatives to the ¡®plug and charge¡¯ concept have taken the centre stage of research in the field.

Several substitutes have come up over time. Recently we shared how a startup in India has come up with a graphene based metal-air battery as a substitute to the conventional Lithium-ion batteries. The concept involves topping up your car with water and you are good to go. Now, a new concept by a Dutch based company uses the energy from the sun as a way to charge these batteries. Now that¡¯s free and renewable energy put to good use.

¡®Lightyear¡¯ is a startup currently in the process of coming up with the first prototype of an electric car that recharges through solar cells embedded on its roof. Do not mistake it for the only source of recharging the car though. It does come with the conventional charging plug, so you still can charge the car at a charging station or at your home.

Lightyear

The solar cells are there to eliminate the dependence on such charging stations though. Lex Hoefsloot, CEO of Lightyear began developing the car¡¯s concept while he was a student at the Eindhoven University of Technology. By the time he had already won the World Solar Challenge in 2013 and in 2015 as a part of a team that developed car capable of driving around 1000 miles on a single charge.

Now looking to commercialise the concept's shaped wings, Hoefsloot launched a startup straight after the university, finding investors in the process as well as people with experience in the car industry¨Cincluding ex-Tesla employees.

As for the car, technically it does not run directly from the solar energy. There is still a lithium-ion battery powering the vehicle. However, the solar cells are able to charge the battery on the go, meaning the car has a potentially unlimited source of charging, without ever stopping for a refuel.

In addition, the company is ensuring an ultra-efficient model for the car as it has a direct impact on the range. The more efficient a vehicle is, the less energy it uses and hence delivers a better range. For this, Lightyear says that the body of the car has been made much lighter than average through design changes as well as the material used.

Lightyear

Other enhancements include in-wheel motors instead of a transmission, better aerodynamics, cameras instead of side-view mirrors, a streamlined undercarriage and an adjustable height of the car through an air suspension system to minimise the drag. With all these changes in place, the company claims an impressive 500 miles (800+ kms) on a single charge.

The concept actually comes as a solution to two major issues. Firstly, as the vehicles are ideal most of the time during the day (or even on the run), they can have a constant charging without staying plugged in. Second and more importantly, as many regions in the world are still trying to embrace the EV culture, the question of setting up the EV infrastructure or bringing the EVs first can be solved through this. It can act as a big kickstarter to any region trying to shift its transport models to electric drivetrains.

Lightyear hopes that going forward, the car can primarily run on solar energy. The company has also put up a calculator on its website to calculate the energy distribution for commutes. As per it, in a sunny city, solar power will be able to cover 96% of a 10,000 mile (16,000 kms) drive annually.

Hoefsloot claims ¡°We saw that the technology we used¨Cthe solar cells and the battery cells and the motors¨Cwere getting much better from year to year,¡± says Hoefsloot. ¡°In the first car that we built for the Solar Challenge we had solar cells that were 22% efficient, and two years after that they were 24% efficient. That meant a 10% increase in energy yield. That keeps happening every two years. So that means at some point it is really kind of trivial to use solar power as a way of charging.¡±

Lightyear

Lightyear is planning to test its prototypes on real road conditions in 2019. Once the testing phase is completed, the company plans to launch its first cars in 2020 at an expected price of

$135,000 (Rs 94 Lakh), eventually bringing it down to $26,000 (Rs 18 Lakh) with increasing production.

Hoefsloot is not being money minded in the process though. He hopes that the industry catches on to the trend, something which he calls as the ¡°second wave of electric cars¡± after the first wave hit the auto industry hard with the Tesla Model S back in 2010. If the trend catches on, we might be looking at a whole new generation of electric cars that further reduce the carbon footprint of personal transport by completely embracing clean energy.

To think of it, there is no reason why such a concept will not work in a country like India, considering the high level of solar energy abundantly available in the country. So as and when the Lightyear car makes its way to the country, or even if another auto maker picks up the idea on a commercial level within the country, this might just be the boost that India¡¯s EV scenario has been needing since long.