Ford Motor Company will showcase a solar-powered car at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week.
The solar-powered version of the automaker's C-Max hybrid compact car, dubbed the C-Max Solar Energi, features 1.5 square metres of solar cells on the roof, which charge a range-extending battery. This means users won't have to plug the vehicle into an electrical grid.
The solar technology from Ford is used in conjunction with a charging canopy fitted with a magnifying Fresnel lens, which was originally developed for use in lighthouses. Much like the experiments children play with magnifying glasses and the sun, this canopy concentrates the sun's energy onto the solar cells, allowing it to generate more power than solar-powered vehicle concepts of days gone by.
When the car is parked under the Fresnel lens canopy, it will track the sun and roll back and forth to ensure the most intense energy is concentrated on the panels.
According to Mike Tinskey, Ford's global director of vehicle electrification and infrastructure, in a few years people could potentially drive their vehicles using solar technology alone.
"The panels are extremely light. They're not nearly as thick as they appear," Tinskey said, adding that he'd guess the system only adds a few additional pounds to the overall weight of the vehicle.
The flexible design of the solar panels were developed and manufactured by SunPower, a California-based company. According to SunPower, when using this technology, the same surface area of cells can harvest 50% more energy than traditional cells. And on cloudy days, owners of the C-Max Solar Energi can just plug the vehicle into a traditional charging station.
Ford claims the system will generate the equivalent of a four-hour plug-in charge over the course of a day. But the solar-powered concept car is not without its snags - its takes roughly an hour for the car to charge enough to drive just 1.6km.
The concept will be tested after CES to find out if the technology could be successful in real world situations.
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