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Mercedes-Benz says its testing solar power generating vehicle-paint that could coat vehicles, and generate 100% of their power requirements in sunny cities like Los Angeles. (evcentral.com.au)

submitted 1 week ago by Lugh to c/futurology

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[–] uservoid1@lemmy.world 22 points 1 week ago (7 children)

the solar paint contains no rare earth elements or silicon. The material is made from non-toxic, readily available raw materials and is recyclable. It is also significantly cheaper to produce than conventional solar modules.

Sounds a bit too good to be true.

it is too soon to know if the solar paint will make it to production

If it is so good, why? My guess it's still in the vague concept stage and not even near actual testing with a moving car.

[–] BatrickPateman@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Article says it was tested for 12 month and provided 60% of the energy needed for the commute each day.

[–] gazter@aussie.zone 12 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Without doing the math, that means they've broken several barriers in solar panel development, and this paint is more efficient than regular solar panels. If true, these guys aren't a car company any more, they are a solar company.

[–] Lugh 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Without doing the math, that means they’ve broken several barriers in solar panel development,

I'm borrowing this from elsewhere, but someone has done the math and says it works out.

The typical daily driven distance is only around 50 km or 30 miles, EV consumption is around 4 mpkWh so that's sound 7.5 kWh to recover in LA it's 9 hours average sunshine per day. So we need to collect solar energy at a rate of 830 W.