When looking at alternative energy cars, people mostly focus on electric cars, ethanol cars, and hybrid plug-ins as the cars of the future, but I really think we’ve overlooked an energy source that’s always been right here. above us and the constant solar energy that reaches us from the sun. Solar power has all the potential in the world because it’s a virtually infinite supply of energy that has no chance of running out (that is, unless the sun goes out, and if that happens, we won’t be alive to care about it anyway). ), so it can power our cars virtually forever. Some of us already have solar paneled roofs to heat our houses, so we are already starting to use this energy source in some way. The technology for solar powered vehicles is almost here.
China has just come out with its own solar-powered car made by the Chinese car company DianZi. The great thing about this car is that you can pretty much buy it for a song and dance for just under $5600, but remember this is just a first generation solar powered car and as such it won’t be the perfect car of its kind. dreams. The bad part is that it takes about 30 hours to fully recharge the solar unit on top of the car, but once it’s charged it can get up to 90 miles per charge, so that’s actually 50 more miles without gas than the chevy volt, but the volt charges almost 5 times faster.
They’re not the only company working on a solar-powered car. Now there are rumors that Toyota itself has gotten into the solar-powered vehicle sector, but this one differs from the other Chinese model in that it is a solar-powered hybrid car. You’ll get about 30% of your power from the solar panel units on your roof, while the rest you’ll get through gasoline or any kind of biofuel. Toyota has also publicly stated that it intends to one day develop a car that gets all its energy exclusively from the sun. Obama has also stated that he will spend a larger percentage on alternative energy vehicles than his predecessor, President Bush. If he is really serious about this, it will mark a good start for his presidency and will put us one step away from being totally dependent on OPEC for our oil.