BMW’s California-based design consultancy DesignWorksUSA, the company which will be designing the trains for the Kuala Lumpur Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system, has come up with a solar carport concept, which as its name suggests harnesses the power of the sun to generate electricity to charge the automaker’s i3 and i8 electric cars.
Form is as important as function, in this case. The choice of materials, design and colour of the solar carport concept takes its cue from the styling of the BMW i models to form a harmonious counterpart.
The sustainability bit is also underlined by the materials used in the construction of the carport and by its solar modules. In addition to the carbon elements on the side of the carport, the principal material used is bamboo, in the form of struts.
As for the generation of electricity, high-energy yield glass-on-glass solar modules are used, though no specific mention is made as to the power generation characteristics of the system.
Working in conjunction with the BMW i Wallbox Pro, an i vehicle can be specifically charged with solar electricity from the carport – the Wallbox indicates the amount of solar energy that goes into the car and provides an analysis of recent charging processes, which shows the respective proportions of solar and grid power.
If the solar panels provide energy beyond the requirements of the vehicle, this surplus solar power generated can be put to domestic use, the company says.
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Er…. need 1 week for a fully charged.
BMW cannot even sell their hybrid well, became big failure, now want to do solar pulak?
Hello BMW, concentrate on what does well lah. BMW USA is like BMW Malaysia, all run by donkeys. They sell all soon to be doomed cars like the 2 series, 1 series and 4 series. 6 also doomed. 8 also doomed.
Only thing does well is 3, 5 and 7. Focus on that.
What the hell are you talking about? 2 and 4 series are just the coupe versions of 1 and 3 series, and they sold quite well before. The name is new, that’s all.
And just because cars don’t sell well in Malaysia that doesn’t mean they don’t do well elsewhere. I’m in Spain now, and I’d say there are at least 2 Citroen for every Toyota.
You must be some really high-up BMW insider to know whether their hybrids are selling well or not since they just started selling the i brand cars only months ago huh?
BMW Active Hybrid 3 and Active Hybrid 5 been selling few years now. All fail. Nobody buys.
More or less the same as the Tesla Station?
Thats a pretty smart idea. Though I think it’ll take quite some time to recharge an entire car. And those solar cells aint cheap either. But if you can afford a BMW i, then it shouldnt be too bad.
They could just couple the solar penal with an external Li-On battery. Yes the cost maybe more expensive but this ain’t gonna be cheap anyhow. Putting a Li-iOn battery there means that it can charge the Li-iOn battery in the day even when the car is not around, energy is not being wasted and charged straignt into the external Battery. And in the night when the most people would’t use the car the Battery will transfer the energy back to the car.
I remembered a study last time with an even more ingeneous solution. Water travels through the faux solar penal cosisting of just a piece of glass shaped so that it can heat the water. The heated water turns to steam and turns a tubine, creating power. What so special about it is that underneeth and around the alumimiumm/stainless steel pipe is a heat absorben material so that in the night, there is still some heat to continue heating the water. If I recalled correctly, it can generate even more electricity in the day than a normal photo-voltaic cells with the added benefit of generating some electricity at night. Along with that, other benefits are that it is cheaper, simpler to maintain. But it is heavier than noraml photo-voltaic cells Solar Penal.
This is really eco catchy one. They should install some wind turbine also. A good theme for a housing or any other parking lot, maybe at offices and shopping complex.
They go though all that trouble of the design and did not include “wireless” inductive charging.
shortshighted a little no?
Shouldnt it the case, you just drive into your “porch” and let the car and “charger” do its thing.
We at MAI would like to propose that Solar cars be given 100% exemption from tax.
Aren’t these cars mostly used by commuters? Which means during the day, when there is sun, the car is going to be parked at work. At night it’s home, but there is no sun to charge it.
Can it charge my powerbank too so that I can bring along just in case the car runs out of juice.
Petrol car also cant make properly now want to make solar car. Podah la.. 2 years warranty for fuel cars, this one 2 months warranty??? Go fly kite la.