Is it possible to charge the batteries of a Do It Yourself (DIY) electric car with solar cells?
As it turns out, you can.
However, you can’t mouth the solar cells on the car because there is simply not enough surface area. Well, unless you want to cover the entire car with Photovoltaic (PV) cells, that will be cool though, but still not enough.
The only way to utilize solar power on an EV is through a stationary solar array…preferably at your home.
If you are planning to charge to batteries with solar energy, look at your battery charger first.
How much current does it need?
A typical solar panel with 36 pieces of 3” x 6” solar cells is capable of generating 18 volts at approximately 75 watts of electricity. Is it compatible with the battery charger?
The solar array can easily be scaled up meaning you can add more solar panel to increase the current output from the solar cells.
There is a clear benefit of using solar energy to power a pure electric car…you have literally zero cost for driving the EV.
When you are using an EV, you’ve already saved a ton of money on gasoline. Your vehicle running cost is the electricity needed to charge the deep cycle batteries. And when you are using free energy from the sun, your electric car is literally off the power grid. A pure green vehicle!
Would it be difficult to build a DIY solar power system at home?
If a person can convert a gas guzzler to run on purely electricity, building a residential solar energy system is a piece of cake. The system is much simpler compared to an electric car conversion project. You have less components to worry about also.
How much does a home solar power system cost? I did some reading on this subject. The actual cost of the entire system is not very expensive.
A DIY solar panel can be built with a budget of less than $200. You can save a lot of money by sourcing for cheap or recycled solar cells. All you need to know is where to find them.
Convert Your Own Electric Car
Want to know how to convert a conventional automobile into a plug in electric car? If you do, download the 20 DIY Electric Car Conversion Videos e-book.
The e-book will show you videos of homemade electric cars and the different components needed for the conversion project. Click on the link below to download the free e-book now!