Why didn they put solar cells on the car to charge the batteries?
The short answer is that it would take WAY too long to charge the batteries! For the long answer, I asked Bob Siebert, who installs solar electric systems, to run the detailed solar charger calculations. • Where’s the glove compartment? There isn’t any! I guess the designers figured it doesn’t get cold enough in Southern California to require gloves, so we don’t need a glove compartment! • How does it feel to drive a silent car? Actually, the car is not TOTALLY silent. In a quiet place you can hear a small coolant pump running. And if you have the vent fan running, then that becomes the loudest sound (like your PC with its cooling fan). When accelerating, the car has a distinct whine (Jean says like the Batmobile!). On the freeway, none of this makes any difference because noise from the tires and wind dominates. And if you’re gridlocked on the freeway, the car next to you is making enough noise to cover the lack of noise from the EV1. • This one was submitted by another EV1 owner, Mar
