Sweden The test truck in the new study has a solar panel area of up to 100 m2, allowing the vehicle to travel 5,000 km without stopping to charge.
560-horsepower truck with 18-meter-long trailer, of which 100 square meters are covered with 13.2 kW solar panels. Photo: Dan Boman
Uppsala University is collaborating with Eksjö Maskin & Truck, Midsummer, Ernsts Express, Dalakraft and Scania on a new research project to develop solar-powered trucks, New Atlas reported on August 31. The project is funded by the Swedish innovation agency Vinnova.
The team is developing lightweight solar panels that can be mounted on trucks and harvest natural energy, reducing operating costs, emissions and the need for a sustainable transport system. Using a test truck, they are testing how much solar energy can be harvested, how much carbon emissions can be reduced, how grid-connected it can be with bi-directional charging and how it can reduce the climate impact of trucking.
The 560-horsepower test vehicle has a 18-meter-long trailer, of which 100 square meters are covered with 13.2 kW peak solar panels, creating a solar surface area equivalent to that of an average-sized house. The vehicle uses a new, lightweight solar cell, built on a combination of Midsummer solar cells and new perovskite solar cells, generating around 8,000 kWh of electricity per year when operating in Sweden. The test vehicle's battery pack has a capacity of 300 kWh, of which the tractor is 100 kWh and the trailer is 200 kWh.
Even though Sweden lacks solar power for weather and tangential reasons, the extra solar power would still allow the trucks to travel up to 5,000 km per year. Countries with more sunshine hours could expect more abundant energy. The team expects energy levels to be double that in countries closer to the equator, meaning trucks could travel an additional 10,000 km without stopping to recharge.
Thu Thao (According to New Atlas )
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