Scania presents an electric truck that charges itself (video)
Swedish Scania presents the world’s first truck covered with solar panels. Thanks to its own energy production, this unique prototype has the potential to reduce both operating costs and CO2 emissions for heavy vehicles.
The outer surface of the truck is covered with 100 square meters of solar panels that are connected to its electrical system. The prototype was deployed in a research project to investigate how much solar energy this configuration could generate and how much CO2 emissions could be reduced with the attached photovoltaic panels.
“If you can make it work here, with solar power, in Sweden, you can make it work anywhere,” said Erik Falkrim, project manager for the company’s solar-powered truck development. Falkrim added that if the technology is viable in the Scandinavian countries, it will confirm the project’s broader effectiveness.
The hybrid truck has all the “standard systems”, including a 100 kWh energy storage device. At the same time, the trailer has an additional energy storage capacity of 200 kWh, functioning as a “power bank” that is charged by solar panels.
But, of course, equipping a trailer with photovoltaic installations involves a whole set of specific engineering problems.
“We have to remember that solar panels are not designed for traveling around the city in a vehicle. They are designed to stand still on the roof of a house for 20-30 years. We had to solve safety issues when installing solar panels on a vehicle,” added Falkrim.
However, he also noted that this is still a research project, and he anticipates the likelihood of technical flaws that will need to be corrected along the way.
Following an initial scoping study completed in 2019 to determine feasibility, Scania received funding from the Swedish state innovation agency Vinnova. Then in January 2021, the company launched a full-scale project with efficient and lightweight solar cells developed by Uppsala University.
