How come solar powered cars aren't as popular if they can help save gasoline expenses?

Answer 1

It's expensive to make and you can't run the car at night.

Answer 2

Good question. The energy of sunlight falling on a one square meter solar panel at noon consists of about 750 watts of usable power. The best solar panels today are only able to convert about 20% of that energy to electricity, leaving us with about 150 watts available per panel. If your solar powered car had 8 such panels (that's a 6 ft x 12 ft roof) would generate 1500 watts at noon during the day, which will drive a 1 horsepower motor to drive the car. That being the case, the power of sunlight will get you down the road at a blistering 4 mph (about the speed of walking). on a level road. It just is not practical, even if the panels were 100% efficient. There are no easy answers.

Answer 3

yea solar power is sure to help save gasoline and all other fossil fuels but solar power cars r not very powerful becoz of the reasons
1. the solar cells r very expensive
2. the solar cells generate limited amount of energy
3. it needs sunrays which in not possible 24hours and 365 days
a year
4. to generate enough energy to run cars large no. of solar cell need to be used

Answer 4

I think the answer to the question is simply demand. If people were not so in love with having the biggest, prettiest, and best gas guzzlers, cars that use other sources of energy would have a higher demand. As for solar powered cars specifically, I don't think they have made one yet that is affordable to most people.

Answer 5

because they are not very powerful. And solar panels at this time gather energy very innefficiently as compared to other sources. They constantly have to be in sunlight. Right now the technology isn't very good.