{"268321":{"#nid":"268321","#data":{"type":"news","title":"New Solar Car Concept Shines at Electronics, Cars Shows","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFord Motor Company, in collaboration with Georgia Tech, debuted a new solar car concept earlier this month at the 2014 International CES in Las Vegas.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe C-MAX Solar Energi Concept is a first-of-its-kind hybrid electric vehicle with the potential to free drivers of their dependence on the electric grid. Instead of recharging its battery from an electrical outlet, C-MAX Solar Energi Concept harnesses the power of the sun by parking under a special concentrator that acts like a magnifying glass, directing intensified rays from the sun onto solar panels on the parked vehicle\u2019s roof below.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe result is a car that takes a day\u2019s worth of sunlight to deliver the same performance as Ford\u2019s conventional C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrid, which gets combined miles per gallon gasoline equivalent (MPGe), with EPA-estimated 108 city\/92 highway\/100 combined MPGe.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cFord didn\u2019t just want to build an electric car, but a plug-in hybrid electric car that actually uses green electricity,\u201d said Bert Bras, a professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. \u201cJust putting photovoltaic cells onto a car is not going to do it, so they reached out to us to help progress the concentrator idea.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe car is continuing its media tour this week at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The concept car is a Ford-led collaborative project with Georgia Tech and San Jose, Calif.-based SunPower Corp.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFord and SunPower co-developed the solar panel-based roof specifically for C-MAX Solar Energi Concept. Because of the time that would be needed for conventional solar panels to absorb enough energy to fully charge the vehicle, Ford turned to Prof. Bras\u2019 Sustainable Design and Manufacturing lab at Georgia Tech for ways to amplify the sun light to make a solar-powered hybrid feasible for daily use.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHis lab helped develop a car port type solar concentrator that uses lenses similar to what lighthouses use to amplify a small light. Special Fresnel lenses in the car-port direct sunlight to the solar panels on the vehicle\u2019s roof, so the concentrator acts \u201clike a magnifying glass, but it\u2019s squished,\u201d Bras said. Grooves in the thin glass reflect the sunlight down to the car, boosting sunlight\u2019s impact by a factor of eight.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe patent-pending system tracks the sun as it moves from east to west, drawing enough power from the sun daily to equal an 8 kilowatt hour battery charge.\u0026nbsp;The car\u0027s self-parking features can automatically move the car to keep the\u0026nbsp;sunlight focused on the rooftop panels.\u0026nbsp;Bras\u2019s lab modeled the size and dimensions of the concentrator needed to get to 8 kWh per day. That charge is possible in the concept car, but much work remains before this off-the-grid car can hit the streets.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThere is more work to do, but the basic principle, can you charge a car with 8 kilowatt hours per day using pure sunlight? Yes, you can,\u201d Bras said. \u201cThe next step will be to test it in practical situations.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBy using renewable power, Ford estimates that the C-MAX Solar Energi Concept will reduce the annual greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from a typical car owner by four metric tons.\u003Cbr \/\u003EInternal Ford data suggests the sun could power up to 75 percent of all trips made by an average driver in a solar hybrid vehicle. This could be especially important in places where the electric grid is underdeveloped, unreliable, expensive and dirty.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe like to do these concepts that push the boundaries, like Ford does also,\u201d Bras said. \u201cThey want to boost sustainability and get off of the electricity power grid. That\u2019s what we\u2019re really after.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResearch News\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E177 North Avenue\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAtlanta, Georgia 30332-0181 USA\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMedia Relations Contacts:\u003C\/strong\u003E Brett Israel (404-385-1933) (\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:brett.israel@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ebrett.israel@comm.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E) or John Toon (404-894-6986) (\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jtoon@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ejtoon@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter:\u003C\/strong\u003E Brett Israel\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFord Motor Company, in collaboration with Georgia Tech, debuted a new solar car concept earlier this month at the 2014 International CES in Las Vegas.\u0026nbsp;The car is continuing its media tour this week at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u0026nbsp;","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Ford Motor Company, in collaboration with Georgia Tech, debuted a new solar car concept earlier this month at the 2014 International CES in Las Vegas."}],"uid":"27902","created_gmt":"2014-01-15 17:43:42","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:15:40","author":"Brett Israel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2014-01-15T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2014-01-15T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"268301":{"id":"268301","type":"image","title":"C-MAX Solar Energi Concept","body":null,"created":"1449244058","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:47:38","changed":"1475894956","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:49:16","alt":"C-MAX Solar Energi Concept","file":{"fid":"198564","name":"c-maxsolarenergi.-ford.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/c-maxsolarenergi.-ford_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/c-maxsolarenergi.-ford_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":82282,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/c-maxsolarenergi.-ford_0.jpg?itok=ldtFhOun"}},"268311":{"id":"268311","type":"image","title":"C-MAX at CES in Las Vegas","body":null,"created":"1449244058","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:47:38","changed":"1475894956","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:49:16","alt":"C-MAX at CES in Las Vegas","file":{"fid":"198565","name":"cmax-ces.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/cmax-ces_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/cmax-ces_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":169423,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/cmax-ces_0.jpg?itok=Wz8NoMN5"}}},"media_ids":["268301","268311"],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"144","name":"Energy"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"154","name":"Environment"}],"keywords":[{"id":"51181","name":"Bert Bras"},{"id":"83931","name":"c-max solar energi"},{"id":"83951","name":"ces"},{"id":"675","name":"Ford"},{"id":"83961","name":"fresnel lens"},{"id":"169622","name":"solar car"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39531","name":"Energy and Sustainable Infrastructure"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71911","name":"Earth and Environment"},{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBrett Israel\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E404-385-1933\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:brett.israel@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ebrett.israel@comm.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["brett.israel@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}