With the increasing costs, both financial and ecological,...

With the increasing costs, both financial and ecological, of fossil fuels, fuel efficiency in vehicles has become an increasingly important factor. Vehicle manufacturers and designers are exploring alternative fuels, with electric, hybrid and hydrogen-powered vehicles being looked at as viable alternatives. Solar power has been somewhat overlooked but has the ability to become widely used because it is both clean and economical. The advantages over fossil fuels are obvious: Solar power is renewable, cannot be exhausted and doesn’t cause pollution. Fossil fuels are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. Solar seems like a logical alternative. As such, it is being considered by private companies and government think tanks as a partial†¦show more content†¦Battery packs are still heavy, bulky and expensive but the costs of solar power are coming down while the cost of gasoline keeps going up. A number of different vehicles from sports cars to vans to golf carts have had solar panels added to flat surfaces, primarily their roofs. Some of the vehicles are ordinary cars which have been modified for solar; others are highly futuristic. The picture below is a good example of a futuristic design. The vehicle, called â€Å"car on a stick† was designed to be used as a streetlight when not being driven, which accounts for the one sitting at a higher elevation in the picture, as opposed to the one on the ground. It would also save on parking. Of course, this design is only an idea at this point, but it gives some interesting possibilities for vehicles (and cities) of the future. Source: http://www.designboom.com/contemporary/solarpoweredvehicles.html Albuainain Page 2 of 5 So far, the size, weight and efficiency of PV panels, and the need for a storage battery, which is large and heavy, has limited the range of most such vehicles to 30-50 miles between charges (designboom). 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