A team of some 30 students from James Durand’s mechanical engineering class, at the University of Virginia, has collaborated with U.Va. Facilities Management for installing solar panels to help power a 1994 Honda Accord. Earlier, the same team made the same car to run on electricity alone. Last Tuesday, they installed these panels atop a bus kiosk at the Emmet/Ivy Garage. The energy generated will be transferred to the garage itself and later, it will recharge the car.
solar panel installation
Cheryl Gomez, director of utilities for the university, said…
The solar-generated electricity will be part of the power supply for the garage. And we will meter it. Assuming roughly 1,100 hours of sunlight per year, this should yield about 1,320 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year.
The six-200W panels that measure around 3 feet by 5 feet each and have a collective weight of 240 pounds would offset 43 percent of car's energy use, provided car is driven about 5,600 miles per year and it abides by the assumed capacity of 120 miles between charges. Moreover, the car can easily do about 65 miles per hour. The car’s maintenance cost is about 10 percent of the conventional vehicles. The car will be used by the Department of Parking and Transportation.
Via: UVa Today
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