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Comment by d4a | Hacker News Reader

Even with those solar cars, it would be better off for them to plug into a larger grid and set of solar panels compared to the small ones built in. The purpose of those small panels is to charge when no charging is available. In this case, if enough current and charge is available (via solar canopies and mains power) then the built in panel is useless.

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> The purpose of those small panels is to charge when no charging is available.

The Lightyear and Aptera can charge up to 40 miles of range per day on their built-in solar panels, and the Sion can add about 15.

With that much charging capability, the built in solar panels can provide energy for a vast majority of the daily miles driven in the vehicles, and not just function as a backup for when plug charging is unavailable.

The point is they can get that days worth of charge in an hour by just plugging in under the canopy, so it’d be silly to make an exception for such a rare car.

It's only silly if you don't think that a lot more EVs in the future will solar self-charge similarly to those cars.

Tbh I still don’t get it. Those cars still have plugins don’t they. Why not use the faster charging method? Those cars will never self-charge as fast as being plugged in. So that alone is a good enough reason. but yes if you were to ask me to wager I’d wager solar cars will never be a major thing, but that’s a guess to be fair.

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