What is the amount of solar energy required to drive a 250 pound cart with a 250 pound person 10 miles? How many square feet of recharged paneling would be required?
How much solar paneling is required to produce electrical energy to move a 250 pound body in a 250 pound cart?
January 20th, 2010 by My Efficient Planet Leave a reply »
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If you are willing to go slowly enough, all you need from the solar panel is enough to overcome static friction to get the cart started.
I do know that a cyclist cruising along at a moderate speed (say, 10 miles an hour) is expending about 1/10 horsepower. That’s 80 watts. So on flat ground, a 100-watt panel push them over the 10 miles in an hour. Such a panel, if square, would be 2 to 2.5 feet on a side, if made with typical contemporary materials. If the terrain is more than gently rolling hills, more power would be needed.
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Here is an antique table with guidelines as to how much a man or a horse can draw in a cart at various speeds: http://books.google.com/books?id=rZh-AAAAMAAJ&pg=RA3-PA200&lpg=RA3-PA200&dq=handbook+animal+power+10+hours+a+day&source=bl&ots=BOU3rcG0a3&sig=ty3ilPWVesQ52VB7skx4-Jc6H8U&hl=en&ei=nxafSo3nEIKUtgfPlZQB&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#v=onepage&q=&f=false
On a flat road, you could get away with maybe 1/10 HP, and go 3 mph.
On rails, you could carry 10 times as much weight.
A barge on a canal, 50 times as much.
Allowing for losses, that’s about a 100-watt panel in strong sunlight.
If there is any uphill, that’s an entirely different matter.