Performance Evaluation and Trial Making of Compact Solar Ev
Abstract
In this study, we built a compact solar electric vehicle (EV) converted from a Honda Gyro Canopy, which is a three wheel scooter widely used in Japan for delivery services, and installed bifacial c-Si PV modules on the surface of its delivery box. The power generated from the photovoltaic (PV) modules was controlled using a quad peak power tracker (PPT) system in the solar EV. In this paper, we discuss three types of PPT systems that can maximize the charging power from PV modules to the four valve-regulated lead-acid storage batteries. Moreover, we evaluated the energetic performance of the solar EV running on a Li-ion storage battery of 5 kg. The outdoor experiments clearly showed that four series–parallel PPT systems produce better electrical energy than the other systems. The average energy consumption by the solar EV circling a building on a flat asphalt pavement road was 1.06 kW at an average speed of 15.9 km/h (peak speed was 25.1 km/h).
Keywords
Solar ev, Ev conversion, Pv system, Bifacial c-si, Multiple peak power tracker