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I have two 100W solar panels on my RV, they are about 57 x 21 inches. On a sunny day, I am happy to see 11A @ 14.5V or so, around 160W. I have two 110 amp-hour batteries, and I am able to keep enough charge to watch about 5 hours of satellite TV and run lights with a good day's charge.

Optimally, you can get 1000W per square meter of solar, that's with peak performance. Chevy Volt has 16 kWh of battery capacity. With 50% efficiency for 8 hours, that means you will need to charge at an average rate of 2kW, so you would need 4 square meters of panels. That's a lot. Also, you would need to store this solar produced energy during the day, and charge at night, I would think, so you would need a second battery array and associated electronics for charging, both from the solar to the storage batteries, and from the storage batteries to the car.

Solar is expensive, I spent almost $1k on my little 200W system, and I did the work myself. Most of the cost is in the cells, so a system that would charge even a 40-mile car like the Volt would cost several thousand dollars, and you would need the real estate for the panels. But, other than battery replacement, it should last virtually forever.

Nuclear power plants, man, that's what we need. Store the waste in Pittsburgh.

-Chuck, Vegetarian fanboy



I agree nuclear power is the way to go currently. But the only way to see steady improvement in wind, water, tidal, and solar power sources is to employ them in the early stages and work out the kinks.

The solar power panels on your RV are not the same strength and weight of what a person should install on their house. A good google search for several companies will give you the recommended size type and number of solar power panels based on your location in the USA to meet your needs.

It has been about 2 years since I looked into adding solar panels to the house, and I don't have the figures with me, but the efficiency of solar power panels continues to improve.

You could get a battery array if you wanted to stay "off the grid". Or you could connect directly into your incoming power supply and get a credit from the power company if you produce more power than you consume or simply reduce the power consumption during the day. Since most people are at work during the day, using proper (i.e. solar panels made for structures, not RVs) solar panels can usually offset the power consumed by an empty house.

But if you are considering 4 square meters to be large, I can tell you that you and I are in completely different ballparks when we are talking about square footage to be used for solar power.
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--Some of us look for The Way in opium and some in God, some of us in whiskey and some in love. It is all the same Way and it leads nowhither.