That's a valid point, but how many people have solar panels on their roof? Have you priced an installation lately?
If you install solar yourself, it can be done affordably. But your range is limited by the battery, and "refueling" could be a challenge in some situations. You can easily double the range of your gas car by bringing along several cans of fuel.
But the important thing is to understand is specific energy, or the amount of energy per unit weight. In transportation, weight is everything, because weight (or mass) impacts the work your energy source can provide after hauling it's own mass around. Wikipedia is as good a source as any, so I included the link below, and the numbers are usually up to date.
Anyway, gasoline is 46.4 MJ/Kg, Li-Ion is < 0.9 MJ/Kg. 15 gallons of gas is < 100 lbs. What's the weight of a typical electric car battery? How far will a gas vehicle go on 100 gallons of fuel?
To be perfectly honest, a hybrid vehicle with a relatively small battery makes the most sense from an efficiency standpoint. If you don't mind the added complexity and a battery that degrades quite a bit in 3-4 years. The Rav4 hybrid seems like it might make a lot of sense. But I don't have $32K+ burning a hole in my wallet, and I don't like spending a lot of money on vehicles.
That's a valid point, but how many people have solar panels on their roof? Have you priced an installation lately?
If you install solar yourself, it can be done affordably. But your range is limited by the battery, and "refueling" could be a challenge in some situations. You can easily double the range of your gas car by bringing along several cans of fuel.
But the important thing is to understand is specific energy, or the amount of energy per unit weight. In transportation, weight is everything, because weight (or mass) impacts the work your energy source can provide after hauling it's own mass around. Wikipedia is as good a source as any, so I included the link below, and the numbers are usually up to date.
Anyway, gasoline is 46.4 MJ/Kg, Li-Ion is < 0.9 MJ/Kg. 15 gallons of gas is < 100 lbs. What's the weight of a typical electric car battery? How far will a gas vehicle go on 100 gallons of fuel?
To be perfectly honest, a hybrid vehicle with a relatively small battery makes the most sense from an efficiency standpoint. If you don't mind the added complexity and a battery that degrades quite a bit in 3-4 years. The Rav4 hybrid seems like it might make a lot of sense. But I don't have $32K+ burning a hole in my wallet, and I don't like spending a lot of money on vehicles.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_density