First you need to find out if wind and or solar are good for where you
live. If you are in the USA. anywhere in the south west is really good
for solar. OK, TX, NM, CO, UT, AZ, NV, CA. The border where CA, NV and
AZ meet is about the best place. Many other places aren't bad either
just know what to expect. For wind it isn't quite that easy. There are
spots all over the country that are great. Many places that people
think would be good for wind power aren't. For example in Oklahoma
City, where I live, many think there is lots of wind. There is a lot
more wind than I would like, but from what I have read, not enough to
make wind power worth the investment. However just a few counties north
and west of Oklahoma city is a great spot. Which is where the power
company put it's wind mills. So consult a map like this one....
http://rredc.nrel.gov/wind/pubs/atlas/maps/chap2/2-01m.html
You will notice a blue island that covers the north west part of
Oklahoma, part of the TX pan handle, and some of KS. If you live in an
area that is that shade of blue or darker, wind power is worth looking into.
Pick the right solution for where you live.
As for solar, I would wait about 18 months or so. A new company,
nanosolar, is producing solar panels much cheaper than any one else.
Their product is in such high demand, it will be that long before they
are caught up with the demand. Currently you are hard pressed to find
solar panels that cost less than $5/watt. Nanosolar says they will be
selling them for $1/watt.
All that said I'm not sure how well your solar powered garage/electric
car charger will work. If you are like most people, you are away from
home during a lot of the day. Solar panels aren't going to give you
much charge at night. Unless you do most of your driving at night, or
you have 2 sets of batteries for this electric vehicle that can easily
be swapped, I'm not sure the solar charger for the car will work very
well. Another option is to hook the solar power up to an inverter that
can be tied into the grid power (about another $1/watt) so you can sell
the electricity to the power company during the day and then buy it back
at night to charge the car.
Another thing you need to find out is how many watt hours does it take
to charge this car? You can't design a solar/wind system to recharge it
till you know how much power it needs.
I want to built a garage for an electric vehicle with a photovoltaic
roof and/or a wind generator that will trickle charge the battery. I
need a simple, economical DC system with the reliability of an anvil.
And - I need someone smart enough to diagram it all out. That's
probably too much, but I'm told it never hurts to ask.....
--
Chris W
KE5GIX
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