Published on September 9th, 2008 | by Dana Nuccitelli

Nissan to Launch Solar-Powered Electric Car

Nissan plans to launch an electric concept car with solar panels built into its roof.

Nissan Note

The Nissan Nuvu will get its power from a dozen or so leaf-shaped solar panels, before energy is channeled into batteries through a ‘tree trunk’ inside the car. Nissan says Nuvu’s cabin will even be built with natural, organic and recycled materials to appeal to environmentalists.

Of course, solar photovoltaic panels are currently not efficient enough to fully power an electric car. They’ll simply supplement the energy supplied by plugging the batteries into the power grid.

The Nuvu’s external dimensions are similar to those of the Toyota iQ, with a 1980mm wheelbase. But the Nuvu is 200mm taller, measuring 1700mm in height, and is just 1550mm wide next to the iQ’s 1680mm. Unusually, it will feature two permanent seats plus a third that can be folded down for occasional use. Nissan claims an integral luggage area will make the car suitable for shopping trips.

Nissan’s general manager for product strategy and planning division, Francois Bancon, maintains that the Nuvu “is a concept car, for sure, but it is an entirely credible vehicle”.

The Nuvu will debut at the 2009 Paris Auto Show along with two other cars from Nissan – the Pixo, powered by a small 1.0 liter three-cylinder engine, and a revised version of the Note compact car.

Sources: Which, Autocar, Autoblog

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Tags: electric car, electric vehicles, EVs, Nissan, Nuvu, solar

About the Author

Dana Nuccitelli Dana earned a Bachelor's degree in astrophysics from UC Berkeley in 2003 and a Master's degree in physics from UC Davis in 2005. Through college, he grew increasingly interested in environmental issues, particularly global warming and alternative fuel vehicles. After earning his Master's degree, Dana became employed at an environmental consulting firm in the Sacramento, California area. He currently works as an Environmental Scientist, primarily perfoming research and contributing to the cleanup of contaminated former military defense sites.

larry holmes

Anyone with half a brain nows that a solar panel on a car can’t acomplish much of anything, except perhaps running a small fan to remove some of the heat from the battery. Nissan is just adding junk like that and “recyclable” materials (all materials used in every car today is recyclable – that’s what car crushers do). Just put out some meaningless nonsense and the environmentlaists will fall for it. They’re

young and brainless.
larry holmes

Anyone with half a brain nows that a solar panel on a car can’t acomplish much of anything, except perhaps running a small fan to remove some of the heat from the battery. Nissan is just adding junk like that and “recyclable” materials (all materials used in every car today is recyclable – that’s what car crushers do). Just put out some meaningless nonsense and the environmentlaists will fall for it. They’re

young and brainless.
Dana Nuccitelli

Kindly refrain from grouping together and insulting all environmentalists.

While the solar panels can’t provide much energy (as noted in the article), any use of renewable energy is better than none.
Jeff Baker

Solar Panels on Vehicle Roofs – Gimmick or Gift from God?

Over 50 years ago, early computers were as big as a house. Not very practical. Since then, the world has been revolutionized by desktops, laptops and handhelds. In 1903, the Wright Brothers made their first powered flight which lasted all of 12 seconds and covered only 120 feet. The skeptics were laughing, but the rest is history. Today we have state of the art air travel, and we depend on it. Likewise, solar panels on vehicle roofs may not seem worthwhile, but that conclusion would be based on a limited perception of what is possible. The convergence of broad, cutting edge technology is destined to put solar powered vehicles on the energy timeline.

The birth of the first solar panel on a mainstream production vehicle will be the next generation Toyota Prius due out next Spring. Nissan, VW and several other carmakers will offer solar panels on their electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles also. At 20% efficiency (Suniva and Day4 Energy), the Prius roof panel could generate up to 270 watts. The panel will be optional and cost under $900. Keep in mind, the cost of solar panels will gradually come down, and the efficiency will gradually go up. Already, there are cheaper and more efficient solar panels being announced. The SunFlake panel, invented by Martin Aagesen who is a PhD from the Nano-Science Center and the Niels Bohr Institute at University of Copenhagen, gets 30% efficiency and will be cheaper than current panels. Innovalight claims they have a solar panel that is 44% efficient at one tenth the cost. If that’s true we will be over 500 watts. The next technology, coming 5 to 10 years from now, is infrared solar and solar paint, that will collect radiant heat from the entire vehicle body, 24 hours a day. This too has the potential to double the wattage again, but from twice the surface area. So we will be up to 2000 watts under ideal conditions (less depending on the angle of the sun and weather conditions).

Recently, Toyota described the 1/X Concept vehicle, a plug-in hybrid about the size of a Prius, but ONE THIRD the weight, only 926 lbs. With a vehicle that is one third the weight, the mileage doubles from the same wattage. Another breakthrough just announced is an electric motor that uses half the amount of energy to perform the same amount of work. With this new electric motor, the mileage doubles again. Search: Thor Power: Revolutionary Electric Motor Design Cuts Energy Use in Half. And with that 2000 watts of solar power, we will not be powering the vehicle motor. We will be powering a generator to pulse charge a pack of individual batteries in rapid succession with a pulse width modulator, many times per second. Such a battery charger is being patented. However, researchers can not explain how one battery running a generator can charge a half a dozen other batteries, but they see it happening.

A large percentage of the coming electric and plug in hybrid vehicles will be charged at night when the rates are low, then driven to work and parked all day. If you live in a sunny location, the big pay-off will be Vehicle to Grid (V2G). This concept was originally conceived to transfer a portion of cheap off peak power from your batteries into the daytime peak load grid. You would drive to work, park your car at a V2G receptacle, plug in and tell your car how much power to sell to the grid. Then when you got off work, you would have enough juice left to get home. With advanced technology in a sunny climate, and 2000 additional watts of power to feed into the grid at peak load rates, you would get a lot of credits on your electric bill. All of this will eventually become standard features financed into the vehicle, and will pay for itself. As a last resort, if you ever needed to charge your vehicle away from home, or on a rainy day, you would plug into the V2G system and charge your batteries. The power will go both ways. Feed electric power into the local grid for a credit, or draw power out as a debit on your electric bill.

Solar panels on vehicle roofs are the first step to something more advanced. Visualize the vehicles of the future as portable power plants with their owners managing energy.
Jeff Baker

Solar Panels on Vehicle Roofs – Gimmick or Gift from God?

Over 50 years ago, early computers were as big as a house. Not very practical. Since then, the world has been revolutionized by desktops, laptops and handhelds. In 1903, the Wright Brothers made their first powered flight which lasted all of 12 seconds and covered only 120 feet. The skeptics were laughing, but the rest is history. Today we have state of the art air travel, and we depend on it. Likewise, solar panels on vehicle roofs may not seem worthwhile, but that conclusion would be based on a limited perception of what is possible. The convergence of broad, cutting edge technology is destined to put solar powered vehicles on the energy timeline.

The birth of the first solar panel on a mainstream production vehicle will be the next generation Toyota Prius due out next Spring. Nissan, VW and several other carmakers will offer solar panels on their electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles also. At 20% efficiency (Suniva and Day4 Energy), the Prius roof panel could generate up to 270 watts. The panel will be optional and cost under $900. Keep in mind, the cost of solar panels will gradually come down, and the efficiency will gradually go up. Already, there are cheaper and more efficient solar panels being announced. The SunFlake panel, invented by Martin Aagesen who is a PhD from the Nano-Science Center and the Niels Bohr Institute at University of Copenhagen, gets 30% efficiency and will be cheaper than current panels. Innovalight claims they have a solar panel that is 44% efficient at one tenth the cost. If that’s true we will be over 500 watts. The next technology, coming 5 to 10 years from now, is infrared solar and solar paint, that will collect radiant heat from the entire vehicle body, 24 hours a day. This too has the potential to double the wattage again, but from twice the surface area. So we will be up to 2000 watts under ideal conditions (less depending on the angle of the sun and weather conditions).

Recently, Toyota described the 1/X Concept vehicle, a plug-in hybrid about the size of a Prius, but ONE THIRD the weight, only 926 lbs. With a vehicle that is one third the weight, the mileage doubles from the same wattage. Another breakthrough just announced is an electric motor that uses half the amount of energy to perform the same amount of work. With this new electric motor, the mileage doubles again. Search: Thor Power: Revolutionary Electric Motor Design Cuts Energy Use in Half. And with that 2000 watts of solar power, we will not be powering the vehicle motor. We will be powering a generator to pulse charge a pack of individual batteries in rapid succession with a pulse width modulator, many times per second. Such a battery charger is being patented. However, researchers can not explain how one battery running a generator can charge a half a dozen other batteries, but they see it happening.

A large percentage of the coming electric and plug in hybrid vehicles will be charged at night when the rates are low, then driven to work and parked all day. If you live in a sunny location, the big pay-off will be Vehicle to Grid (V2G). This concept was originally conceived to transfer a portion of cheap off peak power from your batteries into the daytime peak load grid. You would drive to work, park your car at a V2G receptacle, plug in and tell your car how much power to sell to the grid. Then when you got off work, you would have enough juice left to get home. With advanced technology in a sunny climate, and 2000 additional watts of power to feed into the grid at peak load rates, you would get a lot of credits on your electric bill. All of this will eventually become standard features financed into the vehicle, and will pay for itself. As a last resort, if you ever needed to charge your vehicle away from home, or on a rainy day, you would plug into the V2G system and charge your batteries. The power will go both ways. Feed electric power into the local grid for a credit, or draw power out as a debit on your electric bill.

Solar panels on vehicle roofs are the first step to something more advanced. Visualize the vehicles of the future as portable power plants with their owners managing energy.
Michael

Jeff,

Excellent comments! I agree the future is very bright for this new technology.

Thanks for sharing you knowledge on the subject.

Michael

Hopewell, NJ
Michael

Jeff,

Excellent comments! I agree the future is very bright for this new technology.

Thanks for sharing you knowledge on the subject.

Michael

Hopewell, NJ
http://www.socialdynamite.com socialdynamite.com

Whoa. WHOA! Ok, this made my day. I could finally get rid of my Corolla. Because I would OWN one of these. Somehow, some way, YES. FINALLY!
http://www.socialdynamite.com socialdynamite.com

Whoa. WHOA! Ok, this made my day. I could finally get rid of my Corolla. Because I would OWN one of these. Somehow, some way, YES. FINALLY!
Pingback: Toyota and EDF Testing Plug-in Prius in UK : Gas 2.0()
fitz

I can foresee a time when the parking lots of America will be owned by GE, B.P. Exxon. All of the parking bays will be covered in parking bays with solar panels that look like carports. The building were you work or shop could lease out the space, You park your electric car,you swipe your car and plug in to charge. All of this resolves the concerns about charging with fossil fuels even if it’s way more efficient, No hot cars in summer and no scraping snow off. How about it !
fitz

I can foresee a time when the parking lots of America will be owned by GE, B.P. Exxon. All of the parking bays will be covered in parking bays with solar panels that look like carports. The building were you work or shop could lease out the space, You park your electric car,you swipe your car and plug in to charge. All of this resolves the concerns about charging with fossil fuels even if it’s way more efficient, No hot cars in summer and no scraping snow off. How about it !
Nissano

Russia, Iran, and Venezuela will cry for mama when these cars come out to the market.
Nissano

Russia, Iran, and Venezuela will cry for mama when these cars come out to the market.
Ian Fernandez

Clearly larry holmes “nows” that he must be the one with only half a brain.

For the rest of us with full brains who can do math, one or two of today’s solar panels can provide more than enough energy for the average American’s daily commute. Maybe he did not understood that batteries would still be utilized to store the energy from the panels to power the motor.
Ian Fernandez

Clearly larry holmes “nows” that he must be the one with only half a brain.

For the rest of us with full brains who can do math, one or two of today’s solar panels can provide more than enough energy for the average American’s daily commute. Maybe he did not understood that batteries would still be utilized to store the energy from the panels to power the motor.