• Omega_Haxors@lemmy.ml
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    11 months ago

    I remember when Solar F- Roadways was a thing, I learned a lot about this sort of thing. Solar panels lose a LOT of efficiency if cells are unevenly lit, due to the voltage dropping making it less able to deal with solar panels high resistance. There’s also the physical issues with durability, traction, and maintenance. Not to say that these issues haven’t been dealt with, but it’s a challenge to pull off, to put it politely.

    EDIT: read the article, they’re using those new flat panels encased in resin on a road that’s empty most of the time, so it works out nice for them. I was doing research in enhancing my e-bike with solar power and I can say without a doubt flat panels are absolutely overpowered in fixing basically every major problem that come with standard panels. They’re even wired in a way that negates the uneven shading problem. You can just plop them like a sticker on pretty much anywhere with reasonable sun coverage and you’re getting value out of them. The only real downside is that they’re like double the price for the watts you get, so there’s definitely an up-front cost to using them.