Maximizing solar harvesting

[glenn-zajic]

I might make some kind of expansion bellows that fits the hatch. This would allow me to open the hatch to gather sun at about the same angle as the other panels, while not allowing leaves and debris to get inside. We will see.

[CGSMT]

This is what I meant. My very first public art submission. 😃

[ROMAD]

Obviously an LHD model on a one-way street! 😀

[Kamakiri]

Easy… Just use one ramp under one front wheel. I don’t recommend this course of action, though. The charge used to reposition throughout the day would offset some of any theoretical gain. The whole beauty of onboard solar charging is the simplicity and lack of repeated/extensive user effort to make it work. I have such ramps, and they are not without safety risks and concerns.

[ray-holan]

Yes, a solar panel makes maximum watts when it is tilted so that the the sunlight hits it directly (i.e. not at an oblique angle). I got a bit OCD about the tilt of my rooftop solar panels until I found some data online that indicated that the tilt deviation from the ideal did NOT impact solar cell output that much. The effect on electricity production from tilting the Aptera with ramps or other means would be worth getting some hard data on once we actually have a production model to test.

[gregory-annett]

In my opinion, you would be better off buying an auxiliary solar panel and angling it as appropriate. Chris Anthony has said they are going to enable this. 700w really isn’t much, a few hundred extra watts would make a big difference.

[Kamakiri]

I’m hoping they put a pigtail in the harness for the LEs even if it’s not immediately available. My preference is for MC4, and 1kW capacity or higher would be nice. Otherwise, tapping the strings in the hood shouldn’t be difficult for some of us, at least.