EVcast #42: Interview with Joe Lado from PHEV3A

A Ford F150 hybid?  In and of itself, it is not a big deal- yet it is in the larger sense for a couple of reasons- along wth the new solar world record (again no big deal on it's own), it shows the positive steps that are being made- showing, if you will, the posibilities of an EV and renewable energy future.  The Ford F150 in particular was probably chosen for this reason.  After all, until this last year, the Ford F-series truck, and the F150 in particular in recent years, has been the best selling vehicle in the US for something like 23 years-in-a-row ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bestselling_vehicle_nameplates ).  Along with the sale of SUVs in the US (again, until this year) it shows what the preference is for the American consumer.  Even you, Bo, have lamented the lack of an EV SUV.  So, one modified F150 is not much, but it may open the eyes of all those truck and SUV buyers who are not going to be happy with a Volt or (shudder!) a ZAP, and show that a change in our fuel storage medium does not necessarily have to mean a change in our other driving preferences.

You seemed a little facetious when you mentioned solar efficiency on how it has not gained much. Although efficiency is important, it is cost per watt that is even more so. The collector used to set this record would be very expensive furthermore you would have to clean the mirrors.

You can take an efficiency multiply that by 90% (really 93%) to get a rough estimate how many watts per square foot the panel will make. Thus a 22% efficient panel (sunpowercorp) will make electricity at 20 watts per square foot.

The big future is Trina, 1366 tech, nanosolar, suniva, nanosolar, and more that promise $1 a watt pv with efficiencies above 10%. This efficiency will probably double.

Compare to plants which range lower than 1% efficiency.

Spectrolab has produced cells near 45% efficency and he supersoaker Johnson guy claims 60% efficiency. Since inverters are 90% efficient, Spectrolab would only need to take one of their panels and connect to an inverter and break the record.

BillB

Good Interview with Joe. Here is an idea for how he could do PR for his trip.

Pick a media hub of an area where the plug-in or ev will be. Say you are planning on going to Harrisburg, PA. You get the email and fax numbers of major press outlets in the City. You plan on your plug in arriving at a particular location at a set time, say the state capitol. You fax and email a press release a day ahead of the actual arrival date to all major outlets. The plug-in shows up at the designated location about an hour before you say it will be there and the driver has a script, e.g., "if we want to take control of our future then we need to commit to driving electric cars. Buying a hybrid is a start and converting it to a plug in is even better. We had electric cars but our car industry became followers rather than leaders."

Evcast is at the surf's edge of EV activism. Help these guys get a clue that organizing will translate into better ev's on the market.

   Effeciencies for solar panels is very important when space is limited.  Having solar panels that only cost a $1/watt (currently a vision not a reality) is often paired with the limitation of 10% or less efficiency.  This is about 1/2 the efficiency of more common silicon based solar panels (at about $5/watt). 

   In the case of my house, I would have loved to have paid only $1/watt, but I would have run out of roof space and only had a 1.5KW system rather than the 3KW system that I currently have.  There are frequently space limitations that come into play that make these thinfilm (inefficient) panels not the best choice.

    Also, if someone wants to put solar panels on the car directly, efficiency will also be important given the limited surface area on the car.  Of course, cost and flexibility will also be important in this case.  So it is good to have a range of technologies to choose from.