Do you plan to go electric (car that is)?

I haven't had my own car or driven (much) since 2005 when I had eye surgeries and my Camry was totaled while parked. Due to the visionary issues with my eyes, there was no need to get another car, especially since I had my husband to take me around and public transportation is excellent in my area. But I always said if I was going to get another vehicle it would have been the Toyota Prius.
 
I don't see how solar panels on a car can generate enough power. I have solar panels on my travel trailer and they barely power a really small refrigerator From https://www.quora.com/How-many-squa...r-a-typical-family-car-How-about-a-Boeing-747 :

A decent solar panel can generate about 10 watts per square foot in good sunlight conditions.

In the case of the car: 1 horsepower = 745 watts. Thus, one horsepower requires 74.5 square feet of solar panel. The base model of the Toyota Camry has 178 hp, although the average driver probably won’t utilize more than half of the engine’s horsepower in normal driving conditions. Still, 89 horsepower would still require 6,630 square feet of solar panel, which obviously wouldn’t fit on a car.

A car 9 feet wide and 16 feet long is about 144 ft2, about 2% of the necessary size. Hard to make this work...
 
Alligatorob said:
I don't see how solar panels on a car can generate enough power. I have solar panels on my travel trailer and they barely power a really small refrigerator From https://www.quora.com/How-many-squa...r-a-typical-family-car-How-about-a-Boeing-747 :

A decent solar panel can generate about 10 watts per square foot in good sunlight conditions.

In the case of the car: 1 horsepower = 745 watts. Thus, one horsepower requires 74.5 square feet of solar panel. The base model of the Toyota Camry has 178 hp, although the average driver probably won’t utilize more than half of the engine’s horsepower in normal driving conditions. Still, 89 horsepower would still require 6,630 square feet of solar panel, which obviously wouldn’t fit on a car.

A car 9 feet wide and 16 feet long is about 144 ft2, about 2% of the necessary size. Hard to make this work...
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Maybe the solar panels just extend the range of EVs by charging their batteries.
 
The thing that I would wonder about, if the nation suddenly began a transition to EV's is....where would we get the electricity needed to power millions of vehicles? Our electric grid is already stressed in many locales....remember Texas this past Winter, and how about the lack of water flowing into our major hydro electric reservoirs? Would we suddenly have to go back to burning coal in the power plants? Unless there is a massive investment in our electrical capacity within the next decade, a lot of people might have to chose between charging their car, or having lights in their house.
 
Don M. said:
The thing that I would wonder about, if the nation suddenly began a transition to EV's is....where would we get the electricity needed to power millions of vehicles? Our electric grid is already stressed in many locales....remember Texas this past Winter, and how about the lack of water flowing into our major hydro electric reservoirs? Would we suddenly have to go back to burning coal in the power plants? Unless there is a massive investment in our electrical capacity within the next decade, a lot of people might have to chose between charging their car, or having lights in their house.
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According to the NY Times, the infrastructure bill contains $73 billion for upgrades to the electric grid.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/02/us/climate-electricity-infrastructure.html
 
Della said:
I've had my Neon 23 years and only put 6000 miles on it so if I can't make it see me out I would definitely consider electric. What I would like is something with a higher seat, it's getting harder and harder to get in and out of.
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It is possible to unbolt the seat, put wooden blocks under it and bolt it back down. Simple, should not be expensive to have done.
 
I have not seen an electric/hybrid 4 seat convertible. I will not drive a sedan. Our present 2012 car has only 33000 miles on it.
There is no place to charge an EV in the condo parking lot where we live.
In 13 years I will be 100 years old. I don't see any new car in my future.
 
I wonder how much charging a car at home adds to the electric bill. Ours is way too high already.

I bought my car 2 years ago. The plan is to keep it for the rest of my life. So I won't be getting an electric car.

The government would have to grandfather in gas-powered cars people already own, or greatly subsidize the purchase of electric cars if they were mandated. Otherwise a lot of people who need their cars would not be able to afford an electric one.
 

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