System Analysis of Electrical Vehicle Using Solar Energy

The Sun delivers to the Earth's surface during daylight hours around 85 milli watts per sq cm (79 watts per sq ft) of energy on a clear day. This energy source has not been practical for vehicle propulsion because it may not be available when needed, and the vehicle may not be properly oriented for receiving it. Sunlight can be used to grow plants that can be converted into fuels, but the resulting fuel generally costs more to produce than does gasoline. Now available is a new tank for carrying solar energy--the zinc-air battery, which can deliver propulsion energy from sunlight with greater efficiency and less value-added expense. This battery generates electric energy by combining zinc from its anode with oxygen from air to form zincate. At the recharging station the zincate is replaced with zinc, and the zincate is sent to a electro-winnowing plant where the zinc is recovered. The main cost of delivered solar power is the interest on the money invested in the solar-cell arrays. This interest, which persists even when the sun is not shining, has made solar power plants non-competitive for generating power for American electric utilities. In a tropical desert clouds rarely interrupt the intense sunlight, and the zinc output from a solar powered electro-winnowing plant can be stockpiled. In a tropical desert a hectare size solar-power plant with 30-percent efficient solar cells can in eight hours recover enough zinc to power 36,000 km (22,000 miles) of travel in lightweight 4-passenger Irmscher electric vehicles. The cost of the energy for a vehicle's 120 km travel range would be Rs.129. If the desert processing plant is 5000 km from the user's port, the shipping cost of the zincate and zinc would add 17.5 cents to the cost of 120 km travel in the Irmscher. A by-product of the solar-power plant in the desert could be renewable fuel that local residents can use in electric bicycles. One oriented solar panel, 10 meters by 10 meters in size, with 30 percent efficient solar cells, can in one day deliver enough energy for 14,700 km (9135 miles) of travel on bicycles. This by far exceeds the travel distance that could be obtained in one day by riding on an animal that is pastured on a 10 by-10 meter area.