I will be moving to a new house soon and want to build a PV cell installation to run a battery powered electric car. But I want it to be economically viable when compared to running a conventional car. I suspect this a long way off being possible at the moment-mainly because of the cost of the cells. It seems to me that this would be the most logical way to use electricity generated from solar cells because: .There's no need to buy equipment to change the output to 240V AC-with it's attendant loss of energy also reducing it's cost effectiveness. .Neither do you need to buy equipment to export surplusses back to the grid (unlless your installation is sized for a worst case in Winter and you find it cost effective to export your Summer surplus). There's also no problem with demand being out of sync. with supply

So I wonder if you have any advice on achieving maximum cost effectiveness. I have wondered about the following: .Using cells which cost less per Watt generated because they are manufacturers rejects (if obtainable) or sold at reduced cost because of minor defects. .Concentrating solar radiation using mirrors or fresnel lenses so that you need a smaller area of cells.

Also which sort of collector is likely to be best in the (often cloudy) UK?

Peter Hanson London N21 1LL

-- peter hanson (peter.hanson4@virgin.net), May 22, 2004

Answers

Having looked into this a bit more I don't think EV solar panels make any sort of economic sense at the moment. My plan for going green in my new house is: . Buy a wood pellet burning stove to provide heating and hot water in Winter. You can get a grant towards it as it's nearly carbon neutral and I think it's quite a bit cheaper than the LPG currently used at the house. . Use a hot water solar panel for Summer . Install a 1.5 Kw windmill on the roof, linked to the grid and use this to charge up an electric car-although there is not yet a 4 seat electric car on the UK market! How pathetic is that?

-- peter hanson (peter.hanson4@virgin.net), June 12, 2004.