The solar cell panels will be installed on the roof of the van, which first and foremost allow you to charge your tools and other utility items on the go without the van's generator working overtime. Other than that, the solution provides large savings on both fuel, time, and CO2.
Green Energy Scandicavia/mipv.pro recently developed a Black Box Power Station for the power-consuming driver who refuses to compromise on capacity and stability. Black Box is a compact box measuring 52x29x23 cm, which often fits right under the passenger seat in the van. The box is delivered with four flexible high voltage CIGS solar cell panels with a total effect of 220 WP. If this turns out not to be enough, it is possible to add more panels.
Read more about Black Box here.(Page linked is in Danish)
A van with solar cells on the roof can save around 140-150 liters of diesel a year, which is a yearly reduction of around 2.68 kg CO2 per liter. This is equal to approx. 402 kg CO2 a year and 1.6 tons CO2 over the course of 4 year lease term. However, these calculations are made on the premise that none of the solar power goes to waste, but it does provide a good insight on the large savings that solar power brings, both regarding the fuel budget and the CO2 accounts.
The power for electricity consumption in vehicles usually comes from the generator where the production of just 1 kWh power costs around 1 liter of fuel. To accommodate for the requirements regarding the EURO6 norm, many car manufacturers have created generators that do not produce power at under 2,500 revolutions, which largely applies to city driving. This means that the car does not produce enough power to be able to charge the tools when driving in the city, among other places. Therefore, craftsmen are often left with tools without battery in the middle of the day or with a discharged car due to an overloaded generator.
The solar power solutions are based on MIPV (Mobile Integrated Photo-Voltaic) technology, which generates power from solar cells specifically for vehicles.
As there is a fire hazard when installing ordinary crystalline c-SI solar cells on a vehicle, these MIPV sets exclusively contain solar cells with CIGS technology, which is thoroughly tested and safe.
The CIGS solar cells were originally developed for the US army, as they use solar cells on their combat vehicles in the field, which means that the solar cell panels are durable. In addition, it is worth mentioning that the solar cells are only slightly shade sensitive, which is why roof racks and ladders on the roof are not a problem.
Moreover, all parts of the technology are E8 certified, which is demanded by car manufacturers for all retrofitted equipment. This also means that the retrofitted products will not affect the warranty of the vehicle, which will remain unchanged.
The solar cell panels are glued onto the van’s roof like a sticker. After this, the solar cells are connected to the heavy-duty inverters of the MIPV set with 2,000-5,000 W (depending on package size), which provides the power-consuming utility items with a minimum of 220V.