Fitting battery electric vehicles with solar cells would extend their range and allow recharging while parked anywhere in the sun. However, with present and near-term engineering considerations, it seems that the more likely place for solar cells will generally be on the roofs of buildings, where they are always exposed to the sky and weight is largely irrelevant, rather than on vehicle roofs, where size is limited... In the case of both building and vehicles, energy from rooftop panels can be stored in batteries for future use.
Cost. While sunlight can provide a free clean source of energy, the creation of PV cells to capture that sunlight is expensive. In 2003, it was found that energy would cost $.30/kWh which is more than double that of residential electricity. These costs have dropped recently with Solar Panel costs coming down further and the reliability of the cells have much improved with thinfilm technology. The cost of Energy will depend on the place of operation as solar r ...more

When petrol is over or beyond common man's reach...companies will manufacture solar powered vehicles only.