I am doing some research into Solar, and I came up with an Idea, based on some things I have seen for normal cars.

You can get solar panels that you plug into your power port (cigarette lighter) that will keep your battery charged.

So question one? If I used that would it charge the battery in the Escape, and which one, likely the 12 volt under the hood.

The manual talks about if you have to jump the Escape to find this secret compartment and do it from there, so that is sending 12 volts right?

What voltage is used to charge the 330 volt battery in the back? (I think I answered my own question )

So there must be some sort of Inverter used to convert the power brought in from this location....

BEAR with me.....

So what if I designed a system that would fit on the roof rack, and fit aerodynamicly to the roof to reduce drag. With a cable that could connect to the jumpers located at the jump port for lack of a better word. It would not be perminent so when you had to go to Ford for repairs you could take it off, hence you still have your warrenty.

so the big questions.

Can you charge the 330 battery from there?

Would it be safe?

It would keep my battery charged better during daylight hours.

My reasoning. On my way back home from the office I found this road, 30 MPH max. Perfect for EV driving. But, I can never drive this whole road without the ICE coming on. this is telling me that the Ford supplied High voltage battery, does not hold much of a charge. I have to go back and actually measure the distances, but it is only a few miles.

Let me know what you think folks.

 

I would have to say that you could probably safely charge the 12 v battery with little difficulty with solar. Charging the NiMH battery pack would require some electronics to regulate the charge or you run the risk of damaging the pack. At best, it would only be a trickle charge because you would need a lot of solar cells to get up to anywhere near 330 v. Each cell typically only produces 0.6 Vdc. If you were to get a DC/DC power converter for a 12v solar panel, the output current/charge capability at 330v would be very little at best.

 

I figured that where you connect to jump the car would be 12 VDC. and the panel can generate 12 volts at up to 12 Amps. I can also get a regulator with the Panel. So I figured if you can jump the car there, you should be able to charge the car there, and that is should be expecting 12 VDC that the car has the circuitry to convert to what ever it needs.

I will have to read more on this jumper system.

 

http://www.evworld.com/view.cfm?page...le&storyid=898

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005...-powered_t.php

http://jalopnik.com/cars/alternative...ect-122193.php

 

Phillip,

12 amps @ 12 volts would require over SIXTEEN square feet of solar array (based on single crystalline cells, which are the most efficent). Anything less than one amp only keeps up with self-discharge, and maybe the digital clock in the stereo. Even if you live in AZ, solar is not the answer, unless you're plugging into a large array during the day (at work?).

330 volts? Forget it.

 

Another real-world solar vehicle:

http://www.solarvan.co.uk/

16 square feet is only 1.5 metres squared, easily achieved on the roof only (without bothering with the hood etc).

SunPower A300 cells are 20.4% efficient, and the US year-round average incident energy is 5.5 kWh per m2 per day. Thus, in a day you could collect 1.5 x 5.5 x 0.204 = 1.7 kWh.

1.7 kWh doesn't sound like much, but it equates to 7 miles per day. Too much for the existing battery (which isn't up to this type of use), so solar only works with PHEVs with bigger batteries.

Ultimately roof mounted cells are not the ideal, the best solar option is to use automatic extending "car-covers", made from flexible nano-solar type material. Keeps the car cool and up to 7 metres squared (30 miles per day EV).

 

A 20% theoretical efficency is tough to achieve. For one thing, solar panels do not like the radiated heat from a metal car body. In the other extreme, they don't like cloudy/rainy days. The approximate 100 amp-hours in your example would not easily be achieved, over time.

In practice, solar power claims (by manufacturers) are grossly over stated. In the systems I have designed (for limited surface area applications like boats, RV's, and remote stations), the only way to effectively maximize captured energy, was to track the sun, thereby increasing the sun-hours per day.