Move over plug-in electrics, there’s a new kid in town as the Ford C-Max Solar Energi Concept makes its debut at CES in Las Vegas, Nevada this week.
The Ford C-MAX Solar Energi Concept will offer many of the same benefits as a traditional plug-in hybrid, but without having to be plugged into an electric grid for its charge. Instead, the vehicle will draw energy through a special concentrator located in the solar panels on its roof.
The device will act like a magnifying glass, concentrating the sun’s rays through the panels and charging the vehicle’s battery. One day’s worth of sunlight will provide the same energy as a four-hour charge to the traditional hybrid version of the C-MAX.
Ford estimates that the sun could power about 75 percent of the trips taken by the average driver, all with same range and MPGe ratings of the C-MAX Hybrid. That means a full charge will have a range of 620 miles, 21 of those miles being purely electric with no support from the gasoline engine.
In case you’re wondering what will happen if you’re in a cloudy region of the country or have a few overcast days in your forecast, there is still a charging port. Owners can still plug it into the grid if they prefer.
Solar charging takes much longer than plug-in charging, so Ford turned to the Georgia Institute of Technology for help developing a faster solar charging system. They devised the solar concentrator which uses something called a Freshnel lens which directs sunlight to solar cells while boosting its impact by a factor of 8.
The vehicle will be on display at CES from January 7th through January 10th before it heads back for further testing and refinement by both Ford and Georgia Tech to see if mass production of the Ford C-MAX Solar Energi is a viable possibility.
Nicole Wakelin fell in love with cars as a teenager when she got to go for a ride in a Ferrari. It was red and it was fast and that was all that mattered. Game over. She considers things a bit more carefully now, but still has a weakness for fast, beautiful cars. Nicole also writes for NerdApproved and GeekMom.
