I am exploring the options for mounting flexible monocrystaline panels of my '13 Chevrolet Volt. Unfortunately I have no idea what voltage the traction battery runs at. Any ideas how I could figure this out? Ideally I would like to cover my roof & hood in PV mods that would be glued to the exterior of the vehicle.
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7 years 2 months ago
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Anon,
If you are serious about turning your sleek 2013 Chevy Volt into a science experiment, and you are unconcerned about being blacklisted by your homeowners association, your friends or your spouse, then let's see if this can be fugured out:
The internet tells me that the Volt has a 300V, 18kWh battery. Based on its diimentsions, I estimate about 6 square meters of surface area if we leave some small openings on the windows to look through.
The typical flexible mono module is about .5 square meters and 100W. In order to store 18,000 watt hours (Wh) of energy from 12 of them, you'd have to have the sun directly overhead for 18 hours. So in reality, considering the angle of the sun and the inefficiecy of the module being installed flat - and some other conversion losses, you'd probably need to leave the car out in the sun for 2 or 3 full days to get a full charge.
You would also have to custom fabricate the solar panels to get a series voltage high enough to charge the battery.
Maybe it would be better to build a solar carport to recharge the Volt?
Check out this article highlighting an electric camper conversion: http://www.treehugger.com/cars/solar-electric-vw-bus-conversion.html