A solar electric power system for charging an electric vehicle
- Univ. of North Carolina, Charlotte, NC (United States)
This paper addresses the design and installation of a solar photovoltaic system used to charge an electric vehicle. The solar system design, instrumentation design, along with the data collection and data analysis procedures will be outlined. While the components used were off the shelf items commonly used in solar photovoltaic systems, this was a unique project due to the large number of variables involved. The design intent was to collect enough solar energy to completely power an electric vehicle, independent of commercial power. Some of the design considerations included: (a) hours of availability of the vehicle, (b) amount of vehicle use, (c) vehicle charging requirements, (d) availability of sunlight, and (e) system efficiencies. System efficiencies included the solar panels, the charge controller and associated batteries, the DC-to-AC inverter used to provide power to the electric vehicle and finally the vehicle charging system and vehicle batteries (twenty 6 volt batteries). The design goal was to provide a system that would fully charge the vehicle during daylight hours in one day, providing sufficient power for the estimated full range of the vehicle (on the order of 75 miles). The system chosen had a cost of approximately $20,000 and was designed to provide 2.4 kilowatts continuously during full sunlight. The energy consumption of the vehicle has been estimated to be 2750 kWh/year, using a .5 kWh/mile figure. A PC-based, networked data acquisition system was designed, providing data collection and data availability over an Ethernet local area network (LAN). Lessons learned and possible areas for improvement and cost reduction will be discussed.
- OSTI ID:
- 390229
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-960430-; ISBN 0-89553-168-2; TRN: IM9646%%514
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 25. American Solar Energy Society conference, Asheville, NC (United States), 13-18 Apr 1996; Other Information: PBD: 1996; Related Information: Is Part Of Solar `96 -- The 1996 American Solar Energy Society annual conference: Proceedings; Campbell-Howe, R.; Wilkins-Crowder, B. [eds.]; PB: 443 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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