At the recent eCartec exhibition in Munich, Webasto showed a roof for the range Rover Evoque that is transparent to the extent that there are large gaps beteen the small crystalline silicon panels. The output ends up being the same as the asola chrystalline silicon panel on the Fisker car - 100 watts peak. Webasto argues that this is enough to let you use your mobile phone to switch the air conditioning full on 15 minutes before your arrival thus giving you a cold car to enter. However, Webasto told us that the panel is not yet commercially viable.
The Lagermax three wheel electric restaurant vehicle from Austria represented a lost opportunity. Its gull wings could have been covered in large area solar cells generating several hundreds of watts peak and usefully charging its battery. We badly need innovative EV designers that are aware of and use the latest toolkit of components.