A Solar Car is an electric vehicle powered by solar energy obtained from solar panels on the surface of the car. Photovoltaic (PV) cells convert the sun's energy directly into electrical energy. Solar cars are not practical day-to-day transportation devices at present, but are primarily demonstration vehicles and engineering exercises.
The solar array consists of hundreds of photovoltaic solar cells converting sunlight into electricity. Cars can use a variety of solar cell technologies; most often polycrystalline silicon, monocrystalline silicon, or gallium arsenide. The cells are wired together into strings while strings are often wired together to form a panel.
Panels normally have voltages close to the nominal battery voltage. The main aim is to get as many cells in as small a space as possible. Designers encapsulate the cells to protect them from the weather and breakage........
Designing a solar array is more than just stringing bunch of cells together. A solar array acts like a lot of very small batteries all hooked together in series. The total voltage produced is the sum of all cell voltages. The problem is that if a single cell is in shadow it acts like a diode, blocking the flow of current for the entire string of cells.
To correct against this, array designers use by-pass diodes in parallel with smaller segments of the string of cells, allowing current to flow around the non-functioning cell(s). Another consideration is that the battery itself can force current backwards through the array unless there are blocking diodes put at the end of each panel.
The power produced by the solar array depends on the weather conditions, the position of the sun and the capacity of the array. At noon on a bright day, a good array can produce over 2 kilowatts (2.6 hp).
Some cars have employed free standing or integrated sails to harness wind energy[2], which is allowed by the race regulation.
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