Oxford PV has joined Nissan’s SUITE consortium, developing perovskite-silicon tandem solar technology that could extend the range of car-integrated solar EVs by a further 3 to 5 km per day and push the total daily solar driving range to 15 to 20 km.
Oxford PV Oxford PV has joined SUITE, a vehicle-integrated solar consortium led by Nissan Technical Center UK, saying its tandem technology could significantly increase solar’s contribution to electric vehicle range.
The company claims its perovskite-on-silicon tandem technology could deliver 20% to 30% more power per unit area than conventional silicon in vehicle-integrated applications.
A roof-integrated silicon PV system typically provides a daily range of 10 to 15 km for an efficient electric vehicle under Northern European conditions, according to Oxford PV.
CTO Ed Crossland told it pv magazine that the higher efficiency of tandem devices would add another 3 km to 5 km – bringing the total solar contribution to about 15 km to 20 km per day.
With efficiency approaching 30%, solar energy could meet the entire daily energy needs of as many as 50% of the drivers of many vehicles, he added. Oxford PV targets 27% efficiency in standard modules by 2027 and 29% by the end of the SUITE project in 2029.
The project aims to achieve Technology Readiness Level 7 (TRL 7), producing demonstration vehicles equipped with operational Oxford PV panels. The path to commercial production would involve Oxford PV supplying cell and interconnect technology to partners who are already major suppliers to original equipment manufacturers for glass integration, Crossland said.
Initial work in vehicle-integrated PV (VIPV) focuses on roof-integrated, rigid and well-sealed module designs, where mechanical loading and moisture exposure can be precisely controlled.
“VIPV is subject to high cyclic mechanical loading, rapid thermal cycling and repeated exposure to moisture and frost that are significantly more demanding than the voltage profiles encountered in stationary PV,” Crossland said.
Module architecture and tandem cell integration are therefore the central technical challenges, he said.
In terms of solar shading resilience, Crossland said Oxford PV’s two-terminal tandem design means it “avoids the damaging effects of reverse bias”, unlike some other perovskite-silicon approaches. “The company has demonstrated cell interconnection technologies that are highly resistant to partial shade and prevent the formation of hotspots,” he added.
SUITE is delivered by Innovate UK in partnership with the Advanced Propulsion Center and the Department for Business and Trade. The consortium includes the Nissan Technical Center UK, specialist engineering firms and several UK universities.
In January, Nissan presented an electric car with 3.8 m² of unspecified high-efficiency solar panels on the hood, roof and tailgate. The company said field testing has shown that the PV system can deliver up to 23 km of additional range per day under optimal sunlight conditions.
“In cities with high sun exposure – such as Barcelona – the vehicle can generate an average of 17.6 km of solar-powered driving range every day. Global annual averages show significant gains: 10.2 km/day in London, 18.9 km/day in New Delhi and 21.2 km/day in Dubai. Drivers can reduce their charging frequency by 35-65% depending on usage. A two-hour, 80 km journey can produce 0.5 kWh of clean energy contributing to 3km of free, zero-emission range,” Nissan said.
Even short journeys contribute to efficiency, allowing meaningful energy to be recovered, which the company says translates into several extra kilometers of range.
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