Nissan presents mini electric vehicle with expandable solar roof
Dubbed Ao-Solar Extender, the roof-mounted vehicle integrated PV (VIPV) concept has a fixed 300 W component and a 200 W component that stows away for driving to generate in the extended position a total of 500 W, according to the company.
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2025/10/27/nissan-presents-mini-electric-vehicle-with-expandable-solar-roof/Open linkView original on lemmy.zip
24 replies
Dope. Comes with a springboard for pools!
I actually like the quirky design. It’s tough to get a sense of the size, but it looks like it might be on par with the old Mazda MPV.
Its a kei car
Oof. That doesn’t do much for my Freedom™ units brain. I’m trying to imagine 3.4 yards and that seems like what I imagine the MPV to be. So, that seems about right.
This seems like a fragile gimmick. You might get $0.10 of power generation or five miles after parking in the sun all day?
500W will give you 1-2 miles of range per hour on a sunny day. If your commute is 5 miles in a sunny area, you won't need gas.
You'd probably do better with a bicycle though.
How much power does the A/C use in a car like that? You could probably run the A/C for free when it's sunny.
When I had a rental Bolt EUV, perhaps a bit larger than this, air conditioning seemed to use about half a kW while sitting at the stop lights, so maybe 500 Wh? So your guess might track, actually.
Probably more than 500W considering you're literally sitting in a greenhouse.
Maybe if you blocked off most of the windoes on the sunny side with reflectors.
Or just walk.
If you park outside and don’t drive every day it sort of makes sense.
And if you partk at work, it's a potential 8 ours if charging.
12 miles, right on the mark for 80% of US commutes.
But if I don't buy a 7000lb battery pack I'll have to take drugs for my range anxiety, which is in the next DVM, or, do simple math in my head.
Only in a communist state, comrade.
Aptera has been promising this since 2009 and people still invest. And that $0.10 is in July near the equator on a street with no trees.
... Can you plug an external battery/powerstation into it, and thus have it charge more than just itself when its not being used?
I... would guess that you could figure out how to do that with what the article mentions as a similar concept, but as a general addon kit for any EV:
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2024/12/10/expandable-solar-roof-rack-adds-1-kw-of-off-grid-charging-for-evs/
So, if you can charge things beyond the car itself, well, in a grid down or extended brownout or black out scenario, you now have a solar setup that can either run parts of your house, or, can move with you as you set up somewhere else.
Maybe its a hurricane or earthquake or wildfire, and you're over at another friend/fam's home that didn't get fucked, and... now you have a solar power backup system, on wheels.
I think most new electric vehicles come with the ability to backcharge or serve as a house battery when plugged to a compatible system at home. Like if they're newer than 2022 or so. Didn't check if that's the case for that one but would assume so especially with the extra solar stuff.
This is neat. A pity it'll never make it to US shores. That, and all the spyware Nissan has puts a damper on things.
Looks more like an extendable shitshelf for birds
Keeps the windshield clean anyway
Actually probably keeps the interior much cooler as well, great for sunny days.
Cute.
The expandable part seems like extra complexity and fragile parts. It would be nice to progress to fixed solar roofs as the norm first, on real cars not just "concepts".