This is the coolest idea, and it’s totally reasonable too. Why not have solar panels on the tops of our cars? While Segun Oyeyiola was a student at Obagemi Awolowo University, he converted his gas-guzzling Volkswagen into a fossil-fuel free machine by installing a giant solar panel on top and a wind turbine under the hood. The idea is that it becomes “Nigeria’s future car.”
At inception, the battery took 4-5 hours to charge, which was not ideal. The biggest challenges, according to Oyeyiola, was finding the best materials to use, and the people telling him he was wasting his time.
Here is an animation of a solar/wind powered car, showing how batteries are charged via the multiple turbines.
The roof of the car consists of a solar honeycomb-membrane panel which collects the suns rays when parked and when moving, and transfers that energy to the main energy storage system located in the back of the vehicle. The front hood of the car boasts three wind turbines which transfer air into wind energy and is then stored in the main battery. The remaining wind turbine is located on the trunk of the car, grasping at the airflow that surrounds the car when driving.
Do we still need to use gas powered vehicles?
Sources: inhabitat.com, fastcoexist.com Via Minds
