Solar Cell/Panel News

[Shawgrin]

An interesting solar cell design.

https://cleantechnica.com/2022/01/24/solar-panels-from-cpt-break-efficiency-barrier/amp/

[jesthorbjorn]

They have been using “dyes” that change the color of LEDs by absorbing light at one frequency and re-emitting it at different frequencies for a few decades already. I have wondered if a similar process couldn’t be developed for PV cells to increase their efficiency. Guess that must be a lot harder. Still seems like these folks may be making progress in that regard. And it is just a film added in the cell manufacturing process! Could be a big deal indeed!

[Shawgrin]

That is really cool. Now that more people are getting on the PV band wagon, I hope we will see all kinds of innovations like yours and others. Keep up the interesting work.

One thing that has ben done in watches over the last few years, are clear PV cells, basically the glass is generating enough voltage to maintain smart watches by Garmin. I have one of their solar smart watches with a PV cell and PV glass (Instinct Solar by Garmin) that can last over 50 days on a charge. No more charging every 4 days. They just released several more models this month with color touch screens, PV glass and PV cells.

[Biker]

Citizen has been selling their Ecodrive watches for 25+ years. It’s all about efficiency – when you don’t need to drive a power hog display or other functions, but you just need to tell time, you don’t need much power. Sounds like Aptera, right?

• This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by  Gabriel Kemeny.

[BUG]

Here’s another advance, just out of “Proof of Concept” – still has a ways to go before common…

https://www.thebrighterside.news/post/innovation-in-solar-cell-technology-generates-1-000x-more-power

[g-johns]

There is always something new, hopefully better but not always.

Tear running down cheek, where’s my aptera, snif, snif.

I’d be vicareously happy to see anyone driving their vary own aptera.

Learned a new word just so I can use it in this post (vicareously).

“Experienced with imagination through the actions of another”

Been doing it with every new update video, hopefully by seeing some owners with them soon.

You think Steve and Chris are commuting around with one yet? I would be.

Thanks, Enjoy the day.

[Ronnie]

Australian scientists to power Tesla on 15,000-km trip with printed solar panels.

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/australian-scientists-power-tesla-15000-km-trip-with-printed-solar-panels-2022-04-20

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[Fran]

This would be a good emergency power source (like jumper cables with an ICE car), if they were anywhere near as efficient as a regular solar panel. But 2.5-3% efficient makes up for the “only $10” per square meter cost to produce. That makes it about the same cost per watt as regular panels. The one advantage they would have, if the lasts, is that they are light weight and can roll up to a shape that can fit in the car. I’d rather have the thin four panel fold out configuration or bendable panel.

[alain-chuzel]

I highly recommend against “bendable” panels that contain crystalline silicon cells. If you just gotta have ’em, I suggest “reinforcing” them so they bend less. This advice brought to you by my 30+ years of building (and learning from) “specialty” panels…..

[GoSolar]

So my question now is the wording of the article and in the video stating “The Charge Around Australia project will power a Tesla electric car with 18 of the team’s printed plastic solar panels, each 18 metres (59 feet) long”.
In the video there is only ONE really long panel seen.
The wording however suggests that there will be 18 of those 59 ft long panels needed to charge the Tesla?

Another thought that crossed my mind is that those flexible printed panels may be perfect for my new metal roof. Printing them in a single line would make them fit perfectly between the standing seems and with a cost of $8 per square meter they may be less expensive than regular solar panels even if covering the whole 4,000+ sqft of my roof.

I wonder what the actual rating is because that 2.5% – 3% efficiency alone is not a good number to work with. What is the actual power rating per m2?

[alain-chuzel]

2.5% – 3% efficiency is 25 to 30 watts per square meter if irradiance on surface is 1000 watts per square meter.

[curtis-cibinel]

If it is cheap enough this technology could still make sense for massive solar farms where land use is not a big deal; basically look at this projection on space needed for powering the world with solar and increase the spaces by 6x (or add more). https://landartgenerator.org/blagi/archives/127

This product as presented seems pretty silly for the emergency charging kit scenario they presented because the amount of space needed is insane.

[Fran]

Well they did say that their trip around Australia with a Tesla driving only a couple hours on six hours of charging during mid day “only” uses 18 of their panels 86 feet long. Those panels look like about four feet wide, so 18 x 86 x 4 = 6192 square feet if the panels are all touching. Gee that’s only about 50 parking spaces on a parking lot, or the size of the footprint of 6 houses, or about one sixth of a football field. I’d hate to be the one responsible for keeping those 18 panels from blowing away in the outback wind.

[curtis-cibinel]

For comparison if the Aptera is driving in a full sun (panels making 700 W), you don’t use the AC and the other auxiliary load (radio, displays, SOCs, charge losses etc) is ~150W then it should be possible to maintain 15 mph without draining the battery. Extreme hypermiling of Teslas has been shown to roughly 1.8x the rated range so this is somewhat reasonable. This is a far more impressive achievement if my assumptions are reasonably close to accurate.

[michael-jordan]

The printed panels from 20 years ago were printed on aluminum foil. Although the surface area is huge, the volume is not. If you can make it so you can roll it, a 100 square meter roll of Aluminum foil isn’t that big.

[graham-smith]

This could add additional solar charging and reduce weight versus Silicon solar cells

[jesthorbjorn]

Yeah, we have seen this one before. Note that the closest that they get quantifying their PV efficiency is to say it provides umpteen times more power per kg – mass of cells. Nobody describes PV efficiency that way (unless they are trying to sell you on something thru misdirection anyway). If these latest thin film PV cells bucked the trend of thin film cells being dramatically less efficient than conventional silicon cells, they would have said that instead.

The use case for PV with the Aptera is max output from a curved and limited surface area with minimal weight add and moderate cost. The Maxeon cells they are using are an excellent fit for that. Using less efficient, lighter thin film cells would not be.

Now if I wanted to cover the vast acreage of skin on my airship with power generating film, this could be just the thing. Better still in the upper atmosphere of Venus maybe?

[Pragmatic_to_a_Fault]

Solar cells are at best 24% efficient and their most efficient peak time is when the sun is perpendicular to the panel, how many minutes a day is that going to be directly at 90* to the sun?

[seth]

Technically it’s solar panels that are ~24% efficient. Just search solar cell vs panel efficiency

[alain-chuzel]

As far as “standard” solar panels go, I don’t believe there are any at 24%. I think the highest is just under 23% at STC. There are certainly cells with STC efficiencies of greater than 24%. Maxeon Gen 3, for example, are available with STC efficiencies up to just over 25%.

Also, folks generally don’t know the definition of efficiency as it relates to solar. Generally solar cells/panels produce more POWER when pointed directly at the sun but since efficiency is defined as power out divided by power in, they aren’t less efficient when not pointed directly at the sun. It’s a math thing….

[michael-n]

I came across this article. It’s a new type of solar cells that can be mass produced. It’s still in the research phase but promising.

https://apple.news/A7PU_SxbKSQm54Y-c2DLs9g

https://phys.org/news/2023-06-breakthrough-solar-cells.amp

[Mike-Mars]

What they’re basically saying in the article that mass production isn’t impossible… they’re not giving numbers for efficiency, or durability, or timescales, or cost, or anything else really. That tends to mean that it is at a very early research stage.

• This reply was modified 10 months, 1 week ago by  Michael Marsden.

[randy-j]

I’m wondering and hoping this might help Aptera.

Solar panel manufacturer Maxeon said this month that its new Maxeon 7 panel set a new efficiency record for its type at 24.9%. The figure was confirmed by the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

The new benchmark serves “to set the pace for the entire solar industry,” Matt Dawson, Maxeon’s chief technology officer, said in a company statement about the achievement. The most efficient residential solar panels available today have maximum efficiency marks that top out at just under 23%.

American solar shoppers who want to have Maxeon 7 panels installed will have to wait. Though the panel is available for “select partners” in Europe, it won’t be available across “all regions,” including the United States, until the third quarter of 2024, according to the company’s statement.

Highly efficient solar panels can squeeze more electricity out of limited space and can be a good fit for people who can’t install a larger number of less efficient panels. It might be cheaper to install more panels to get the same electricity with a lower efficiency rating.

Not every panel will be available from every installer. That’s one of the reasons it’s important to talk to multiple solar installation companies to ensure you’re getting the best deal available to you.

Maxeon’s new efficiency record continues the long-term trend of increasing efficiency. In 2004 nearly all residential solar installations used panels with an efficiency rating below 16%, according to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. In 2022, nearly all residential installations used panels with an efficiency rating of 19% or better.

Maxeon 7 panels are also rated to withstand golf ball-size hail (up to 45mm or about 1.7 inches in diameter).

There’s a New Record for the Most Efficient Residential Solar Panel (msn.com)

[Sam]

More reason to delay delivery of Aptera.

[randy-j]

I see it as another advancing technology that will hopefully make my Aptera much better than the first year of production vehicles.

I don’t expect to see mine for a couple of years. By then all the bugs should be worked out.

[Sam]

In these times of express progress, don’t wait too long. Batteries next.

[Greek]

NO…NO….No more delays. We will delay ourselves out of existence!

[Sam]

Yes, I want those panels.

[alain-chuzel]

Gen 7’s are better but not much better…

[tim-v]

I think the availability discussed in this article is for residential panels, not cells. It isn’t clear from this if the cells that Aptera buys are available in this new, more efficient version to OEM customers such as Aptera.

In any event, as Aptera management has stated, where it makes sense, they will roll in new technology as it becomes available and is validated. Those who are taking delivery in late 2025, will likely have improved Aptera vs. Launch Edition in several areas – belly cooling, better solar cells, etc.

[Mike-Mars]

The cells are available, and according to Discord, pretty much completely compatible with the gen3 (slightly higher voltage).

Improvement is about 4%, about another 10 miles of range on the LE. For a swap-in replacement, that’s about as good as you’ll ever see.

• This reply was modified 2 weeks, 3 days ago by  Michael Marsden.
• This reply was modified 2 weeks, 3 days ago by  Michael Marsden.

[alain-chuzel]

A 4% increase in rated power, all other things being equal, equates to 4% more energy collected. If the Gen 3 cells collect 30 miles worth of energy in a day then the Gen 7 cells would collect 30 x 1.04 = 31.2 miles worth of energy.

[Sam]

So it’s not an improvement of about another 10 miles of range on the LE?

[Mike-Mars]

That was a misleading example on my part.

I was just trying to generally illustrate 4% and chose the battery range as an example (mainly because that was the first number that came into my head). A specific (and therefore more understandable) example would have been saying 1 extra mile of solar gain daily, as Alain says.

Aptera keeps the concepts of battery range and solar gain apart (which is good), so you get 400 miles plus 30 miles/day (average over the year) / 40 miles/day (midsummer).

Compare that to Lightyear and Sono Sion, who merge the solar and battery ranges together in their marketing materials, which I think is a bit of a fudge.

• This reply was modified 2 weeks, 2 days ago by  Michael Marsden.
• This reply was modified 2 weeks, 2 days ago by  Michael Marsden.

[Sam]

Thanks, Mike.

Yeah, I was confused cause he gave your post a thumbs-up.

[alain-chuzel]

My apologies for creating some confusion…..

[Sam]

It’s all good, Alain. Thanks for all your contributions, we appreciate it.

[Sam]

Fact is I’ll take my Aptera with whatever cells are on it. It’s not that much of a gain.