Abstract
As an answer to the increasing demand for new products and, subsequently, for new transportation vehicles, the automotive industry started to shift the gear up to new solutions focusing on the fabrication technologies and also on alternative propulsion and energy production solutions.
While the economy world crisis imposes a new approach in terms of materials and cost effective technologies, the environmental crisis of the XXI century rings the bell for fundamental changes in the automobile design, ranging from approaches in the propulsion systems up to the vehicle recyclability.
As a key actor in the environmental pollution and in the fossil fuels depletion, the automotive industry can play a significant role in the emission reduction by embracing already existing alternatives as hydrogen, bio-fuels or electric power for insuring the motive power.
Regarding the electric power, a rather novel alternative is provided by the photovoltaic conversion, using the inexhaustible source: solar radiation. There are today many applications of photovoltaics in transportation, either for motive power or as auxiliary power units, particularly where fuel, maintenance, emissions or noise requirements preclude internal combustion engines or fuel cells. When it comes to motive power production, the photovoltaics shows their limits depending on the available area on each vehicle, on the speed limit, on the car transportation autonomy or on all of these. The paper develops a synthesis on a set of novel concepts and on already implemented solutions, focusing on the possibilities to integrate the new and sustainable technologies - as photovoltaics, in the general design concept of the autovehicle, as a reliable and marketable product. The analysis of different photovoltaic based solutions, implemented in the car design and manufacturing allows a set of conclusions that support the development of novel integrated concepts for green cars. The paper proposes innovative concepts for integrated photovoltaic systems in the design of the new generation of cars.
Keywords: car design, photovoltaic, integrated solutions, automotive, renewable energy